UPDATE 10th August: Now including briefing note for Integrated Care Boards on legal duties in respect of reducing inequalities.
This report guides ICBs through the process.

In June 1976, the Sex Pistols played Manchester's Lesser Free Trade Hall. The concert turned out to be so important to music history that the usual comparisons are Woodstock and Live Aid. Under 40 people went that night, but the numbers subsequently claiming to ‘have been there when…’ are in the thousands.

‘I saw them before they were famous’ is a well-worn brag of music snobs. Yet this is our abiding feeling having facilitated AphA’s (the Association of Professional Healthcare Analysts) recent strategy away day.

The Strategy Unit has, over the last ten years, developed a way of working that has allowed us to become recognised as a leading analytical organisation in the NHS.

What is an ‘Intelligence Function’? What value can they add to decision making? How can they be configured and who needs to be involved? What lessons can be drawn from current practice?

The pace of change in the development and use of digital technology is astonishing. The use of such technology has been an essential element in the health and care services response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In many cases, the previously unthinkable became commonplace.

Part of the Strategy Unit mission is to improve the use of analysis in decision making. Current use is, to employ a euphemism, variable.

Our mission takes multiple forms:

NHS Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire CCG presenting PHM ExploreR which is an open source tool for Population Health Management. The tool looks incredibly useful to anyone who is involved with PHM (not just analysts).

Andras Varady and Rich Wood talked about the project as a whole, and then ran a demo of the tool and its capabilities. They covered the data requirements of the tool, before moving on to the full functionality of the suite, including:

The Midlands Decision Support Network in association with The Strategy Unit hosted INSIGHT 2021 our annual festival of learning and sharing events for the NHS, local government and other partners across health and care (4th – 15th October).

The number of outpatient attendances in England is now approaching 100 million each year. In 2017/18, the estimated cost of this care was over £9 billion - or 8% of the total NHS England budget.

Yet there are significant gaps in our knowledge. We don’t know enough about the purpose and function of outpatient appointments. Without this knowledge, the NHS will struggle to ensure that the billions spent on these services are delivering best value for the patient and the public.