Andy Cowper

Health policy/politics. “Invaluable, insightful, funny: excellent value for money. Subscribe!" - @NicholasTimmins “The worst journalist!” - @wesstreeting

[Andy Cowper @HPIAndyCowper]

British media went to shit first. British politics followed.

[David Oliver @mancunianmedic]

@HPIAndyCowper i think you are in fact "The Marina Hyde of Health Policy"

[Andy Kelly 💙 @Andy_eprr]

Oh, another day of Matt Hancock getting prodded by m'learned friend....
@HPIAndyCowper

[Andy Cowper @HPIAndyCowper]

https://t.co/S9GHztseLN

[Dave West @Davewwest]

It's NHS Data Dump Day, Super Stats Day

You won't see it in the press releases or most media coverage...

...But figures on community services are published, as well as hospital stats, today covering up to Nov 24

Here's a summary analysis I'll try to repeat each month 🧵

[Chris Dillow @CJFDillow]

Blogged: the question is not just: "what should the government do?" It is rather: "how can we create pressures that force governments into positive change?" https://t.co/EyNJbMb6s3

[Professor Azeem Majeed @Azeem_Majeed]

When trying to interpret medical news on Twitter, remember the expression “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn't”. Advances in medicine are often incremental and it's rare to find an intervention that has a large effect on health outcomes or on health care costs.

[Lucy Easthope @LucyGoBag]

I discuss why here: https://t.co/jFhCgQ569V

[Shaun Lintern @ShaunLintern]

By the middle of December, only 37% of those eligible for a flu jab - including the over-65s, under- 17s, NHS workers, carers, pregnant women and people with long-term health conditions such as asthma and diabetes - had been vaccinated.

[Louella Vaughan @DrLKVaughan]

Important post here on other types of workforce substitution occurring across the NHS.

Excellent work from @UKFCOT!

@parthaskar @iDrSunny @ExplosiveEnema2 @medi

[Ash Paul @pash22]

@NHS England is an ornamental meeting-cum-talking shop, and a recycling centre for the hard of delivery
https://t.co/Bi204gZFTO via @HPIAndyCowper

[Andy Cowper @HPIAndyCowper]

In the future, everybody will be French prime minister for 15 minutes.

[Andy Cowper @HPIAndyCowper]

‘Healthcare 2000’ was perceived at the time to be not un-influential https://t.co/8ReQ5iiT4X, but as we now know, its predictions didn’t happen.

[Andy Cowper @HPIAndyCowper]

This should probably mention that Countess Of Chester chair Sir Duncan Nichol also used to be chief executive of the NHS 1989-1994.

https://t.co/h7GFtz8q4M

[Andy Cowper @HPIAndyCowper]

After his time in charge, Sir Duncan Nichol created a thinktank ‘Healthcare 2000’, which predicted NHS user charges and service reductions.

https://t.co/oIYv43sPr9

[Andy Cowper @HPIAndyCowper]

@Masterofwhine @Chablislodge https://t.co/JD1LTxatWE

[MTimC @MTimC1]

@sib313 @HPIAndyCowper fwiw, I think that there's too little standardisation of processes for much meaningful to be pulled from variation. I suspect that triage planned actions and outcomes/timings could be useful.

[Andy Cowper @HPIAndyCowper]

@PatelCardio @sib313 It’s a few years ago now that @tara_donnelly1 and I came up with that (Dartmouth Atlas-inspired) idea.

It should have been better-supported, but it was 100% the right idea.

[Andy Cowper @HPIAndyCowper]

NHS league tables.

Again.

Sigh.

https://t.co/LOOWdHqzjE...

“Half a league table, half a league table, half a league table onward,
Into the valley of the shadow of career death
Rode the six hundred.”

(With apologies to Alfred Tennyson.)

[𒊓𒅂𒁓𒐗𒐕𒐗 Steve the skeptic @sib313]

@HPIAndyCowper League tables are a simplistic and ineffective way to pursue better public availability of important performance information.

[𒊓𒅂𒁓𒐗𒐕𒐗 Steve the skeptic @sib313]

@HPIAndyCowper Far more attention is merited on making detailed information on outcome and performance variability available. But the NHS has not invested in that (eg the neglect of the NHS Atlas of Variation)...

[𒊓𒅂𒁓𒐗𒐕𒐗 Steve the skeptic @sib313]

@HPIAndyCowper Studying variation in outcomes and performance is hugely important for driving the insights needed to improve. But, when the system wants to pretend performance is adequate, it is very uncomfortable.