Knowledge matters vol 7 issue 6

Volume 7 Issue 6 February 2014

Welcome to Knowledge Matters Welcome to the latest Winter Olympics themed issue of Knowledge Matters. We’ve got some excellent articles including the publication of the results of the latest GP Survey, expansion of the NHS health informatics apprenticeships, an update on the FFT and 2013 staff survey and an interesting article on some exciting new visualisation tools. We also have a handy how-to guide to automatically updating your graphs when adding extra columns to your data table!

This issue I’d like to talk a bit about data. It’s a bit of a hot topic at the moment with the delay of Care.data and the revelations around the sale of HES data to an insurance company. It’s unfortunate that both these two areas are more about how patients and the general public are informed about how the data will be used and what is actually in these datasets.

Unfortunately these kinds of concerns, while understandable, could have a significant impact on the NHS itself where the policy has already been to heavily restrict data access to its own analysts based on organisational grounds, which persists despite the spirit of Open Data espoused by Tim Kelsey, and end up being more restrictive in future. After all, it is already difficult for analysts in the NHS in a provider or commissioner to benchmark effectively between organisations or map patient pathways across organisations, without having to rely on expensive solutions provided by organisations outside of the NHS! Here’s hoping that this will not be the case…

Inside This Issue : GP Survey—New Results Published

2

The Three D’s

10

New Starters, New Offices!

15

Strategic Clinical Networks and Clinical Senates

4

Ask An Analyst—Auto Graph Updates

12

Poem of the Month

16

New Health Informatics Apprenticeships

6

News

14

FFT Update and Staff Survey Results

8

Worst Chart - The Results!

14

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2

GP Survey—New Results Published

By Samantha Riley, Director of Insight, NHS England I introduced Knowledge Matters readers to the GP Patient Survey back in the summer – one of the largest postal surveys in Europe! Over the past seven years, there have been an incredible 34 million responses!!!! Results for the latest GP survey were published on the 12th of December. I thought that it would be useful to provide readers with a summary of the results.

Overall Experience Broadly, patients’ experience of general practice is declining. Some examples of this appear below: •

86.2% describe the overall experience of their GP surgery as good. This is 1.4 percentage points lower than the December 2012 results.

•

75.5% of patients rate their overall experience of making an appointment as good. This is 2.4 percentage points lower than the December 2012 results.

•

79.3% would recommend their GP surgery to someone who just moved into their local area. This is 1.8 percentage points lower than December 2012.

Opening Hours • 78.6% of patients are satisfied with the hours that their GP surgery is open. This is 1.8 percentage points lower than December 2012; •

75.9% of patients said that their GP surgery is open at times that are convenient for them. This is 1.6 percentage points lower than December 2012.

A key area of work for NHS England is to ensure that access to services is maintained and improved as set out both within the Mandate and within the NHS Constitution. Changes have been agreed for 2014 to the way in which GP practices can offer evening, early and weekend opening to ensure that they can provide greater flexibility for patients to access services. In addition the Prime Minister’s recent announcement of a £50m challenge fund to extend and improve access in General Practice, will cover 9 pilot areas looking at how GP services can be provided in different ways.

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3

Out of Hours 67.5% of patients describe their experience of out of hours GP services as good, a decrease of 3.3 percentage points since December 2012.

Again, GP contract changes agreed recently address some of the challenges in this area. GP practices, from April 2014, will have a responsibility to monitor quality of care provided out of hours for their patients and must support integrated working with their local out of hours providers.

Online Appointment Booking The Mandate from the Government to NHS England stated that by March 2015, the Government expects that everyone will be able to book GP appointments online. The survey results show that there has been an increase of 0.7 percentage points in people who normally book appointments online to 3.9%. In addition, however, the proportion of patients who would prefer to book online has increased by 2.7 percentage points to 32.5%.

Therefore the gap between those that would prefer to book online and those that normally do has increased.

We have seen a marked increase in practices enabling these facilities this year (current data from the HSCIC shows 55% of practices have already enabled electronic booking of appointments for their patients, 57% for the numbers of practices with repeat prescription ordering enabled. The number of general practices offering patients electronic access to their own records is continuing to grow from its very low base and currently stands at around 126 practices).

As a consequence of changes to GP contracts from April 2014, all GP practices will be required to promote and offer online booking of appointments (and ordering of repeat prescriptions and access to medical records) to all their registered patients.

Full results can be accessed at the GP Patient Survey website www.gp-patient.co.uk Go and have a look to see how your practice fares!

www.QualityObservatory.nhs.uk

info@quailtyobservatory.nhs.uk

4

Strategic Clinical Networks and Clinical Senates

By Adam C. Cook I’ve been doing a lot of work for the Strategic Clinical Networks (SCNs) in Kent, Surrey and Sussex lately.

Before starting this work I kind of knew they existed, but was not completely au fait with their function and raison d’etre, so in case some of you are wondering, here’s a quick summary of what they’re all about.

The NHS has been very good at building networks and relationships between like-minded colleagues and topic focused groups over the years. The Strategic Clinical Networks are a formalised bringing together of some these older networks together under one umbrella. As a whole they sit under the National Commissioning Board.

They are focussed upon delivering improvements to patient care across a number of different areas – some disease specific and others centred on different types of patients. The aim is to provide insight into services that can be improved and so support changes and improvements in ways of working to make the services better. Alongside this they support the sharing of best practice across services, and champion new and innovative strategies to enhance the quality of patient care. Bringing parity of service provision by reducing variation across services is the other key remit of the networks.

Initially the SCNs will have a focus on a number of key areas. These areas are: Cancer Cardiovascular disease (including cardiac, stroke, diabetes and renal disease) Maternity and children’s services Mental health, dementia and neurological conditions More areas will be added and developed over the initial 5-year lifespan of the networks. The teams are made up of experienced NHS professionals from commissioning, clinical and managerial backgrounds.

Nationally there are 12 of these networks and they operate within the auspices of Area Teams.

So that’s Strategic Clinical Networks, what about Clinical Senates then? They seem to be the same thing – what’s the difference?

Clinical Senates were established last April, at the same time as the SCNs – and they are closely allied to each other.

The focus of the Clinical Senates is leadership and advice—they are to bring these key qualities to a range of partners across the health economy—CCGs, the Commissioning Board, and local Health and Wellbeing Boards. They will do this by working not only with the SCNs, but also the Academic Health Science Networks and the Local Education and Training Boards.

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5

Strategic Clinical Networks and Clinical Senates They are an integral guiding force that helps make sure that the wide array of different NHS organisations are all swimming the same way through the ocean of healthcare provision.

The thing that gives the Clinical Senates their uniqueness, and their weight of authority, is through the membership.

This is not just another organisation made up of middlemanagement in grey suits, instead it is a multi-professional group. It’s not just those from within the NHS who are having their voice heard through this forum.

As you would expect there is representation from commissioners and providers—at strategic and clinical levels, but also from experts at other points on the care pathway, including primary care and local authority and social care. However where the Clinical Senate has the edge on other groups is that it brings the aforementioned people together with patients and patient representative groups (e.g. charitable organisations).

This means that pontificating on possible permutations of provision from an ivory tower, (which, I think, we can all acknowledge has happened in the past), will be shot down and not allowed to happen. This enables those people who actually use our services to guide, encourage, and provide real-world experience to the decisionmakers.

For a more detailed overview of Strategic Clinical Networks and Clinical Senates then I would recommend reading the paper at the following link: http://www.england.nhs.uk/wpcontent/uploads/2012/07/wayforward-scn.pdf

www.QualityObservatory.nhs.uk

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6

New Apprenticeships Strengthen the Health Informatics Profession The Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) is pleased to report that following the development and launch of the Level 3 Diploma in Health Informatics, the Health Informatics Apprenticeship Framework has also been further enhanced and now covers both intermediate and advanced levels . In addition, the apprenticeship framework has also been approved for funding by the Skills Funding Agency. This means that colleges and training providers can access funding to cover the cost of the training.

The qualifications were developed in partnership between the Developing Informatics Skills and Capability (DISC) team within HSCIC, NHS Wales Informatics Service (NWIS), Skills for Health, and awarding bodies in England and Wales.

Supported by the HSCIC, the Skills for Health Academy North West, Health Education England North West, the City of Liverpool College and local NHS employers worked collaboratively to launch the first cohort of health informatics apprentices - in September 2013. As part of the scheme, the apprentices will undertake the Level 2 Extended Certificate in Health Informatics qualification which underpins the intermediate apprenticeship framework.

Brigid Marray-Kilgallen, Cadet Coordinator at the academy said: “It is always a challenge starting off a new programme but I am so pleased with our first cohort of health informatics cadets. They have received plaudits from their placements and given useful insights into the real world of health informatics. Because of their experience, these cadets are on the pathway to the right behaviours and values for the future NHS.”

The apprentices are employed by the National Skills Academy Health’s Apprenticeship Training Agency and are supported by academy staff throughout their apprenticeship. After completion of their six week collegebased induction, this first group of apprentices moved into work placements late last year. The apprentices now spend one day in college and four days a week in their placements within the information management departments of over 12 NHS organisations across Cheshire and Merseyside including Liverpool Women’s Hospital, Liverpool Clinical Commissioning Group and Informatics Merseyside, amongst others.

Ryan Lomax, Project Manager at Informatics Merseyside said: “Working with the cadet programme gives us an exciting opportunity to be involved in the development of young people and the future of the NHS. It gives the cadets the chance to develop the knowledge and experience that will make them more employable and allows them to develop skills that will prove valuable to any NHS organisation.”

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7

Jackie Smith, Informatics Development Manager at HSCIC, said “Part of our organisation’s strategy is to develop a UK informatics skills base in health and social care to support the wider economy, so we’re really excited to see this now coming into fruition in the North West. By providing professional education and training resources, we can drive forward the informatics capability agenda as it gathers momentum throughout the country. It is expected the apprentices in the North West will be the first of many, as the demand for informatics specialists grows amongst NHS organisations.”

If your organisation is considering taking on health informatics apprentices, you may find it useful to take a look at the National Skills Academy web site. They offer a membership scheme to employers which can support your organisation with recruitment, identification of funding and practical support with setting up and maintaining apprenticeships.

For more information about health informatics, apprenticeships and the supportive resources available, or to just talk about what is happening in your area, please contact the national team disc.team@hscic.gov.uk.

Useful Links National Skills Academy http://www.nsahealth.org.uk/ National Skills Academy Health’s Apprenticeship Training Agency http://www.nsahealth.org.uk/ata Skills Funding Agency http://skillsfundingagency.bis.gov.uk/ City & Guilds Health Informatics Diplomas http://www.cityandguilds.com/courses-and-qualifications/it/it-user/7450-healthinformatics

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8

Update on the Friends and Family Test and Staff Survey

By Samantha Riley, Director of Insight, NHS England

A lot has happened since the last edition of Knowledge Matters – it has been a busy couple of months!

Friends and Family Test update On 30th January, we had the first publication of Friends and Family Test data for maternity services along with publication of the A&E and inpatient data for A&E and inpatients. Since the introduction of FFT in April 2013, over 1.5 million pieces of feedback have been received. This compares to approximately 65,000 responses that would be received on an annual basis through the inpatient survey – so FFT is resulting in feedback at a much larger scale.

Response rates do still vary hugely with the December response rate for inpatients ranging from 8.0% to 77.3%. A&E response rates ranged from 0.2% to 63.4%.

The total number of responses received to date for maternity services (October to December 2013) was 93,642. Maternity FFT measures experience across the whole of the maternity pathway covering antenatal care, the birth experience and postnatal care. The response rate from women on their birth experience was just under 20%.

The next publication for Friends and Family test data will take place on 6th March.

Oh, and we will be publishing guidance for the introduction of FFT to all other settings in June – more about this next time.

Staff Survey On 25th February, the results from the 2013 staff survey were published. The staff survey has been undertaken annually since 2003 so this provides us with another rich source of data.

This is the first year where organisations have been able to survey a census or a sample of their staff to feed into the published results. In previous surveys, census data has not been included in trust or national level reports. Of the NHS organisations participating, 95 opted to complete a census survey, inviting all members of staff to participate, and the remaining organisations opted to complete the standard survey sampling method, where a selection of 850 staff were invited to participate.

416,313 NHS staff were invited to participate using a self-completion postal questionnaire survey method.

This represents a doubling of the scale of the survey from 2012. We received responses from 203,028 NHS staff, a response rate of 49% (50% in 2012), double the number of responses we had in 2012.

So – what did the results tell us? Well, broadly, staff experience of working in the NHS is showing a steady improvement, compared to previous years. Of the 28 key findings plus the overall engagement score, 21 have shown a positive improvement, 4 have stayed the same and 4 have moved negatively.

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9 There has been an increase in staff engagement and an increase in the confidence of staff in the quality of care which their organisations provide. Highlights are as follows: •

65% of NHS staff said that if a friend or relative needed treatment they would be happy with the standard of care provided by their organisation - up from 62% in 2012. Only 11% disagreed with the statement;

•

66% said that care of patients and service users is their organisation’s top priority – up from 62% in 2012;

•

The overall staff engagement score has increased to 3.71 (out of 5) from 3.68 in 2012;

•

58% of staff would recommend their organisation as a place to work – up from 55% in 2012. Only 15% disagreed with the statement;

•

90% of staff felt that their role makes a difference to patients – up from 89% in 2012;

•

89% of staff know how to report any concerns they have about fraud, malpractice or wrongdoing – down from 90% in 2012;

•

71% of staff would feel safe in raising their concerns and 54% would feel confident that their organisation would address them – both the same as in 2012.

There remains much work to be done however and there are still some areas of concern. Examples are as follows: •

15% of staff reported experiencing physical violence from patients, their relatives or other members of the public in the previous 12 months – the same as 2012;

•

29% of staff report that they experienced bullying, harassment and abuse from patients, their relatives or other members of the public in the previous 12 months – down from 30% in 2012;

•

39% of staff report that they have felt unwell as a result of work-related stress in the last 12 months – up from 38% in 2012;

•

71% of staff reported that they work longer than the hours for which they are contracted – up from 70% in 2012;

•

Only 30% of staff feel that there are enough staff in their organisation to enable them to do their job properly.

It is also important to note that ambulance staff work report poorer experiences on many of the issues picked up by the staff survey.

I was particularly pleased to see that there has been a steady increase in training on how to deliver a good patient / service user experience (from 26% in 2011, 45% in 2012 rising to 49% in 2013). Clearly there is still a way to go, however I would suggest that patient experience is finally being seen as equally important to high quality clinical care. I wonder what part the introduction of the Friends and Family Test has had in this shift……

That’s all for now – see you next time!

www.QualityObservatory.nhs.uk

info@qualityobservatory.nhs.uk

10

The Three D’s

By David Harries The popularity of data visualization has been fuelled by the increasing availability of online data visualization tools, some proprietary and some open source such as Google fusion tables and charts, Tableau, Many Eyes etc.

Over the past few months I have been learning and experimenting with a relatively new visualization library called D3.js (although it has been around since 2011 and is also a successor to the earlier Protvis framework).

In contrast to many other libraries, such as those mentioned above, which offer a number of data visualization templates you can customize, D3 is more of a specialized language that makes it easier to create designs from scratch and thus gives greater control over the final visual result and because of its versatility and variety it is fast becoming the tool of choice for creating interactive visualizations to be published on the web.

Search online and the web definition for D3 is a ‘JavaScript library that uses digital data to drive the creation and control of dynamic and interactive graphical forms which run in web browsers. It is a tool for data visualization in W3C-compliant computing, making use of the widely implemented Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), JavaScript, HTML5, and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS3) standards’.

D3 uses Javascript to choose elements in your HTML document (technically elements within the Document Object Model, or DOM) and then apply data-driven transformations to the document. For example, you can use D3 to generate an HTML table from an array of numbers. Or, use the same data to create an interactive SVG chart with smooth transitions and interaction.

Understanding D3 is something of a steep learning curve. To build a visualization with D3, you need to have at least some basic understanding of JavaScript objects, functions, jQuery; the basics of SVG and CSS; D3's API; combined with a good understanding of the principles for designing effective data graphics.

However, once you understand the concept you realise that this is a powerful tool to generate some amazing visualizations (you’ve only got to look at some of the examples). https://github.com/mbostock/d3/wiki/ Gallery)

Reading code from examples was a good start to understanding D3 and with the accessibility and transparency of the source code it is possible to tweak code ‘borrowed’ from these examples to quickly produce some impressive results using your own data. Speaking of data, D3 handles multiple data formats including XML and CSV as well as JavaScript Object Notation format (JSON), and includes functionality that makes it simple to loop through data sets. Many of the more basic and traditional charts can be produced direct from flat files such as CSV and JSON.

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11 However, to take advantage of some of the more effective interactive data visualizations it is necessary to convert data from flat file into nested/hierarchical structure JSON data. Understanding the structure, how to convert data into this structure and load the data is key, since as well as its data visualization capabilities, perhaps D3’s real value lies in its ability to respond dynamically to changes in your data.

Data that can be organised and converted into a nested/hierarchical structure can be visualised as hierarchies within visualizations such as Dendrograms, Node-link tree, TreeMap Sankey diagram and Circe Packing, or as networks within Force Direct Layout, Matrix diagram or Bundle and Chord layouts. These types of visualization are particularly useful for analysing and presenting qualitative data. In addition to traditional quantitative and statistical plots, D3 also lends itself to visualising geo-spatial data so it is possible to produce some impressive choropleth maps, Voronoi diagram and Dorling type cartograms or can be used in conjunction with Leaflet to achieve some impressive animation and interaction for the user.

Whilst D3 works perfectly with all modern browsers, one drawback worth noting, it doesn't work with some older browsers, more specifically Internet Explorer v7 and v8, so additional coding with a library such as Raphael or installing Chrome Frame (a browser plugin that uses Chrome underneath) may be needed to support earlier versions of Internet Explorer.

To the right is an example of use of D3 for generating interactive charts used in the NHS Insights Dashboard developed by the Quality Observatory.

By the way, if you’ve not already picked up, the three D’s stand for Data Driven Documents (D3).

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12

Automatically changing the graph when new data is added Application: Excel 1.20

Dear Ask an Analyst

1.00 0.80

I have a table of data which I have used to draw a trend line for the last 12 months, Is there any way I can set up the graph so that it will only show the last 12 months when I add more data?

I will be adding a new data point every month and don’t want to have to keep updating the data ranges every month.

0.60

chart Series Average

0.40 0.20

Fe b1 M 3 ar -1 Ap 3 r1 M 3 ay -1 Ju 3 n13 Ju l-1 Au 3 g13 Se p13 O ct -1 N 3 ov -1 De 3 c13 Ja n1 Fe 4 b14

0.00

Alan - Central Southern CSU

Solution: Complexity 3/5 — Nesting formulas and offsetting

This is an common problem. Quite often as analysts we find ourselves constantly updating tables, having to delete / overwrite existing data and adjust headers and making sure that range references haven’t shifted while we are adjusting our data!

Here is a method that you can use to help take some of the headache out of the process.

To start off let’s have a look at our “source” data table:

In this example our data is arranged in rows, but this can work just as well for data in columns.

We have a header row of data in cells C2:O2 in Date format and the data we want to plot in cells C3:O3. When we add new data it will be in the columns to the right of column O. The first thing we need to do is to calculate the biggest date value in the header row.

For this we can use the =MAX() formula.

This will return the largest value in a set of values.

It ignores any Logical (true/false) values and text (! If this doesn’t work as you expect check that you don’t have numbers formatted as text!)

We can use the MAX function with the row reference (2:2) so that it looks for values in any cell in row 2 =MAX(2:2) This should return 01/02/14 as the largest date value in the row.

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13 The next thing we need to calculate is the column that the largest value is in.

For this we can use =MATCH(lookup_value, lookup_array) Lookup value is the value you want to look up and the array in this case is either a cell reference (e.g. to the cell that has your max formula) or the formula itself.

So we can use : =MATCH(MAX(2:2),2:2,1) This should return the value 15 which means that the largest value in row 2:2 is in column 15.

If you add a new date e.g. 01/03/2014 into cell P2 the formula should now return the value 16 We can then use this to create a “Graph” data table with 12 data points counting back from the formula value (i.e. –1)

We can now use the =Offset(reference,rows,cols) function to return the last 12 header and values into a table that we can link to a chart e.g. to return the header value into cell O8 : =offset($A$2,0,O7-1) Note: Why O7-1? Well O7 has the value 15 which is the 15th column, however the offset formula counts from the reference cell in this case the reference cell is A2 which is the 1st column. The 15th column O is (15-1) 14 columns away from A2.

To reference the data simply use cell A3 in your offset formula i.e. =offset($A$3,0,O7-1)

Now when you add data on to the data table your formulas should process the data into your graph table automatically - no more fiddling with ranges !

Using MAX() & MATCH() does require your data to be ordered, However there are a bunch of formulas that you could use instead. Take a look at COUNT(), COUNTIF(), COUNTA() or if you are feeling brave you could even have a look at using array formulas! Look out for a Skills Builder feature on this in the future.

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14

NEWS HI Apprenticeship Webinar From Jackie Smith, Informatics Development Manager, HSCIC. I know you’re probably more than familiar with how and why the HI apprenticeship framework and entry level qualifications were developed, as I’ve probably bombarded you with information about this over the last couple of years! As part of Apprenticeship Week, I’m doing a joint webinar with the National Skills Academy (NSA) which I thought you might be interested in, or that might be of interest to others in your networks that you could forward it to. The webinar will be held on Friday, 7 March 2014 at 12:00 noon and people can register to participate using the following link:https:// attendee.gotowebinar.com/ register/4063004783675483649.

I’m trying to spread the word about the apprenticeships and qualifications. You’ll be aware from recent emails and articles that the first HI apprenticeship cohort in the North West is going very well, but we hope it is the first of many around the country, so any help in reaching a wider audience would be greatly appreciated. I hope you or other colleagues will be able to join the webinar next week.

NHS Death Rates There was an interesting article on the 25th of February on the BBC website about a review of Hospital Standardised Mortality Ratio (HSMR) and Summary Hospital Level Mortality Index (SHMI) and their usefulness as an indicator of poor care being carried out by Professor Nick Black at the request of the NHS. His review is not due to be published till December however in an interview with the BBC he said that these methods “appeared to have no value”. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-26329750

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AND THE WINNER IS…..

In our ‘Best worst chart of 2013’ survey the winner was ‘Pick Up Sticks’ - a wonderful demonstration of how not to use a line chart. Thanks to all who voted and if you spot a fabulous example of a bad chart

do let us know; after all it’s never going to get any better if we don’t!

Health and Care Innovation Expo 2014 Following our successful presence at the Expo last year we were again in attendance at the event on 3rd and 4th March. This time it was held at the Manchester Central Convention Centre and we helped man a stand with our hosts, Central Southern CSU. Here’s a picture of new boy, Amit, who we threw straight in at the deep end by sending him to Manchester to represent the team!

He was accompanied by Kate however—we’re not quite that mean!

Here’s a little piece from Amit about himself….

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NEWS Introducing Amit Chavda

Birthdays January and February have been a busy couple of months for birthdays for the Quality Observatory team with Adam, Aleks, Charlene, David and Kate all celebrating getting a year older.

Hello, my name is Amit Chavda and I am the latest addition to the prestigious Quality Observatory team. Prior to starting this role in January I was a practising Radiographer for seven years at Brighton & Sussex University Hospital.

In those seven years I worked my way up from a basic grade Radiographer to being the Lead Radiographer in Interventional Radiology and Fluoroscopy. During my time at Brighton, I accomplished a Masters in Economic Evaluation in Health care at City University.

My role in the team is to work as an Analyst under the guidance of "Master Berry" and "Obi Wan Cook". During the last month my learning curve has been exponential x2, I have learnt so much in the one month I have been a part of the team and I hope to grow and accomplish great feats with the team. I hope to bring further exposure to the Quality Observatory by working hard for the team and producing high quality analytics, implementing my clinical knowledge and the theory during my studies.

New Office I’m slightly hesitant in mentioning this just in case it all falls through at the last hurdle but by the next issue the QO will (hopefully, fingers crossed, touch wood) have moved to its new home across the road in Horley to The Gables.

It’s been a fairly challenging year in terms of office space and we’ve had to be pretty creative at maximising our use of the limited space we’ve been allowed to use at York House, resulting in some very “cosy” working conditions on some days, as you can see below!

I am quite an active individual I enjoy playing sports such as badminton, squash, and golf. My hobbies also include listening to music, watching movies and theatre productions.

New Starter 2 Welcome to our next new starter who begins at the start of March, Matt Read. We’ll be hearing from him in our next issue...

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Rosie’s Christening On 2nd February, Rebecca’s daughter Rosie was christened, and several members of the QO went along to help celebrate.

Her favourite christening present was a knitted R2D2 from one of her godparents!

On Open Data Data exists in the system,

We're all part of one happy family,

Open Data is not just a soundbite,

Of this we have no doubt,

Here in the old NHS,

To use as a reactive knee-jerk,

The problem that often arises,

So please let us access your data,

It needs to become a reality,

Is getting the data back out.

There are issues we need to address.

For improvements to actually work.

The data is jealously guarded,

We can't begin to plan services

It's kept close to their chests,

Without understanding what's what.

So we say share all your data,

To let us even get near it

Services built upon guesswork,

Within the old NHS,

We're subjected to numerous tests.

Are really not worth a jot.

We'll use it with care and respect, And will build high to success

"What do you want with our data?

We've got to start trusting each other,

Why should we let it all go?"

We're working toward the same thing,

Yet we need to examine it first

Better care for all of the patients,

We need to look before we can know.

And improvements that we can bring.

.

Simon says…….

February’s name is derived from the Latin word februum meaning purification. However, and probably much more appropriately with all the rain we’ve been having this year, in Old English the month was known as Solmonath which means mud month!

Knowledge matters is the newsletter of NHS Quality Observatory. To discuss any items raised in this publication, for further information or to be added to our distribution list, please contact us.

Hosted by: Central Southern Commissioning Support Unit

E-mail: info@qualityobservatory.nhs.uk To contact a team member: firstname.surname@qualityobservatory.nhs.uk