𒊓𒅂𒁓𒐗𒐕𒐗 Steve the skeptic
@sib313
My opinions–not my clients'–on analytics and other stuff I'm a freelance data scientist and commentator working in healthcare.
"What is the cost of lies? It is not that we will mistake them for the truth. The real danger is that if we hear enough lies, then we will no longer recognise the truth at all." The first words spoken in HBO's Chernobyl but somehow strangely relevant right now.
The NHS, in places, has dabbled with developing staff in process improvement skills, but has never corprately learnt/accepted that this is behaviour & cultural change which takes time, persistance and senior leadership support, and just loses interest and/or reorgs itself.
Toyota is up +8% on the news of a 15% tariff. Why? It's simple. Ford, GM, Tesla, and all the other American manufacturers are going to be paying 50% more for their steel, 50% more for their copper, 25% more for their Canadian production, 25% more for their Mexican production,…
By contrast, outside of this price insensitive market (where key decision-makers aren't spending their own money) technological innovation (e.g. smartphones, computers) lead to falling costs.
This is a very good point. Case in point, I costed a portable cardiac ultrasound machine (+3yr service contract) for a research project twice a few years apart. 1st time: £25k 2nd time: £50k Nicer pictures, but no evidence the new model is any better at diagnosing heart failure
The bitter irony is that the cost of shiny new tech is orders of magnitude greater than even multiyear people development programs. Once someone has the skills, they can teach others, effecting improved home grown productivity through process improvement.
Interestingly, new or innovative tech does not have to incur rising cost. Its likely to be more cost effective & flexible than incumbent tech, particularly when it can be a conduit/catalyst for better process, broader productivity & operational efficacy.
Perpetually rising NHS costs are not inevitable: they are a product of an organisation that prefers to invest in shiny new stuff rather than process improvement: hsj.co.uk/daily-insight/…
A long but detailed argument about why AI is a dangerous bubble: "Look, the generative AI boom is a mirage, it hasn’t got the revenue or the returns or the product efficacy for it to matter, everything you’re seeing is ridiculous and wasteful..." wheresyoured.at/the-haters-gui/
% resources utilised vs Category 2 response time for all services 2018-2024. Target utilisation to meet C2M 18 mins <> 63% (LAS) - 54% (YAS). @AACE_org @ShaunLintern @AliJaneMoore @sib313 @jasonkillens @NeillMoloney @simonweldonceo
One thing I wish more people on social media understood: criticising a claim or argument for X doesn't mean you don't agree with X or that you adhere to not-X or Y.
Not inventing a new violin: @sib313 challenges @NHSEngland 's healthcare productivity pessimism, arguing that real gains lie not in expensive new tools but in overlooked process innovations hsj.co.uk/daily-insight/…
I am struggling to understand the political rationale for the Planning and Infrastructure Bill amendments. I could understand sacrificing YIMBY support to win over nature groups (and their large membership). Short-termist, but there's a logic. Yet, these amendments don't do…
"Setting targets is not the same as solving problems, and good intentions and determination are not a substitute for having a method. ... Change on this scale, in a system this complex, cannot be commanded from the centre. nuffieldtrust.org.uk/news-item/has-…
It is also terrifying to see how prescient Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death was in pointing this out 40 years ago.
Brave New World is a terrifyingly prescient read. Its mind blowing to think that it was written in the 1920s
This should be easy as the 10-year plan says almost nothing about delivery.
Tom Kibasi, executive director of strategy, said on the 10 Year Health Plan that approach to delivery must be consistent with the things said in the plan
Worth pointing out perhaps that you can kill cancer cells in the lab with almost anything including distilled water. To then imply that because something can kill cancer cells could be a drug is 100pc daft.
NOT SOMETIMES
“Arguments from authority carry little weight – authorities have made mistakes in the past. They will do so again in the future. Perhaps a better way to say it is that in science there are no authorities; at most, there are experts.” Carl Sagan
A major problem with many NHS referral pathways (e.g. ADHD, memory clinics, Long Covid) is the complexity of the pathway and amount of administrative work. This creates obstacles to referring patients; with many referrals rejected because of missing (sometimes minor) details.
As The Foreign Secretary at the time of the leak, how did you not know of it?! What exactly are you shocked about?
I am shocked by the secrecy and cover-up over the admission of thousands of Afghans to Britain at the cost of £7bn to the taxpayer. A decision that was in itself wrong. It is an huge betrayal of public trust. Those responsible in both Governments and the bureaucracy need to be…
The benefits of a data driven, systems approach and lots of hard work by @NHS_Lothian and their partners
Look what can happen (in the blue shaded area on the right hand side of the chart) when a health and care system engages with patient flow...