We often use numbers to make sense of performance. In the NHS, this frequently means comparing organisations: waiting times, cancer outcomes, emergency department performance, productivity, patient experience and so on. The logic is straightforward: measure performance, rank organisations, identify the best and worst, and learn from the difference. But what if the difference between organisations…
I found myself at the Midlands Analyst Network Huddle yesterday. The question on the table: Do we need more hospital beds? I was probably the least “analysty” person in the room. There I was, surrounded by people who can make spreadsheets sing, wondering what on earth I was doing there. But again, I tend to…
My daughter has a strong independent streak. Over the months, I’ve learned that if I want her to come to me, the quickest way is often to tell her to go away. Tell her to come and she’ll dig her heels in. Tell her to leave and, before I’ve finished the sentence, she’s wrapped around…
Complexity theory has never had much patience for five-year plans, and neither does British politics. The King of the North arrived in Downing Street and, rather than leave it at the border, brought a court with him, creating “No 10 North” as the centre of his devolution-first government. Britain’s seventh PM has built his career…
The recent HS2 update was somehow both surprising and entirely expected. The cost has risen to somewhere between £87.7 billion and £102.7 billion. Trains once expected to reach 360 km/h will now travel at 320 km/h. And the opening date has slipped by up to six years (assuming this version of the timetable survives long…