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Issue 3 - December 2022
Hello and welcome!
Welcome to the December update. As we approach the festive period, for many it will be a time to spend with friends and family and if you are having a break, I hope you find it refreshing after a long and busy year. I sometimes find that it's difficult when you're busy to have the time to step back from everything and reflect on all that you've achieved over the year and the impact that it has had. This year I have been particularly proud of how colleagues have stepped up to support the testing of the National Competency Framework and taken part in the inaugural State of the Nation Survey. There are of course also many more examples I could share.
I want to say thanks to Ruth Holland and Livvy Williams for sharing what their teams have been up to. I would love to hear about the work you have been doing over the year and I know it is something that colleagues find really insightful to hear the work of teams across the country.
Looking ahead to 2023 we have some big agenda items to look forward to in the world of data and analytics, including the national rollout of the National Competency Framework, and I for one am excited by the first annual conference on National Data Science and Analytics. Look out for more information in the new year!
As we say goodbye to 2023, I'd like to pass on my thanks to you for all your work over the year and I look forward to catching up with you next year.
Ming Tang,
Chief Data and Analytics Officer, NHS England
Meet the Team
In this edition we hear about Dorset's Data and Analytics Centre of Excellence. Livvy Williams (pictured right), Deputy Head of Transformation & Centre of Excellence shares more:
Here in Dorset and Hampshire we are passionate about professionalisation and have established our very own Data and Analytics Centre of Excellence (CoE) with the vision to:
- Equip & empower data and analytics staff across the region to make best use of the data and tools available
- Facilitate sharing of best practice, knowledge and ideas and encourage collaboration and networking
- Inspire individuals to work together for the benefit of the wider systems
- Impact and increase staff satisfaction, experience and retention and enhance the offer of a career in health and care analytics
Through our CoE we facilitate:
- Training and development
- Face to face and virtual events enabling networking and showcasing a diverse range of topics from partners
- Monthly informal Skills & Insights sessions to enable peer to peer learning
- Access to online resources
- Links into national training, development and professionalisation initiatives
Via our CoE we have created a network of like-minded people that peers can tap into, our community is now made up of three hundred members and counting and we are excited to support our people to be at the forefront of the Digital Age.
Above, the Dorset CoE celebration event this summer
Workstream update
Competency Framework
Data and analytics teams have been testing the national competency framework in their workplaces in a rolling program over four weeks. This month, 44 sites and more than 170 testers have been part of the national NHS England testing programme for data and analytics.
It is estimated that over 13,000 people work in the field of data and analytics across health and care. Whether it’s service modelling, data visualisation, or understanding our local populations, their work underpins all of this and more, and it is vital that we understand the scope of what teams do and support them as people, as a workforce and as a profession.
Read more about which sites took part and why it matters.
Observatory State of the Nation Report
The State of the Nation 2022 Key Findings report is now published. The aim of the survey was to:
- Understand the data professional workforce in the health and care sector
- Retain and grow expertise
- Increase professionalism within data and analytics
- Help plan for the future
Headlines from the report
- There are around 13,025 data professionals working in the health and care sector in the UK
- Average size of data teams range from 1 to 21 employees (average of 11)
- Pay grade bandings follow a similar distribution pattern across local, regional and national teams. Band 7 is the height of this distribution
- Average tenure in a team of a data professional is 2-4 years
- Recruitment is an issue especially for grades 6 and 7
- Vacancies are distributed throughout organisation types and areas of England.
Professionalisation
It's finally here AnalystX has a new front page on the web which provides an overview of the community and community resources before you need to join. It also provides a more streamline entry point for existing members to find our most useful resources.
Your views and news
The Midlands Decision Support Network in association with The Strategy Unit hosted INSIGHT 2022 their annual festival of learning and sharing events for the NHS, local government and other partners across health and care. There were five and a half thousand registrations for what was a fascinating line up of events – expert speakers from health and care and beyond – all with a passion for high quality decision making and ‘the science and craft of decision making’. If you missed any events, most recording are now available here.
For those who were able to attend Insight 2022 the organisers would ask if you could complete this short survey about your experience of INSIGHT 2022
Call for evidence survey - closes 15th December
Digital, Data and Technology professionals are in high demand across all sectors of the economy and the NHS needs to do more to attract and retain these specialist skillsets in order to meet current and future digital transformation ambitions.
The aim of this survey is to understand both the good practice and challenges that exist in attracting, recruiting and retaining these professionals.The information gathered will be critical to the ongoing work of the NHS digital workforce programmes and will form an evidence base on which to build future solutions.
The NHS-R Community have had a busy November with a programme of Workshops, Webinars taking place before their bybrid conference. There were 23 pre conference webinars and workshops on offer from 26 Speakers from around the world. If you missed any events, most recording are now available here. At the hybrid (in person/online) event 50 speakers provided a packed agenda. Including on day 2 a Python track recording available here.
Dates for your diary
Useful training
- Transformation Academy for Large Scale Change: Getting Started with Large Scale Change - Course opens 9th January and closes 19th February More details
- NHS-R Workshop: Introduction to R and R Studio – 18th & 19th January 2023 register here
- UK Data Service: Developing area profiles using Census 2021 data - 28th February 2023 register here
Events
- Health Data Research UK Scientific Conference 2022: Data for global health and society -14th December 2022, online. 9:30-17:00 More details
Webinars and meetings
- The Health Foundation: Is the NHS ready for the winter? - 9th December 2-3.15pm More details
- Journal Club: Characterising the health and social care segment of the BCS membership and their continuing professional development needs - 12th December 5-6pm More details
- December 2022 Webinar: The R Workflow – Dr Ryan Johnson from Posit - 21st December 1-2pm More details
- Digital Health are launching a new Spotlight webinar series on CCIO's and CIO's - 13th & 20th January 10th & 17th February More details
Don't forget to join the FutureNHS AnalystX community online. It's one of the most popular and well used workspaces on the platform. Not only is it a place to find resources and the latest information, it's also a place to share and engage with data and analytics professionals across the country.
If you're not already a member, click here to join: AnalystX - FutureNHS Collaboration Platform
your space, your community
We hope you’ll enjoy reading this update and sharing it with colleagues and partners. As we develop we’d like to hear your stories, case studies and news items, so please send through anything for inclusion. Likewise, your feedback will help make this newsletter useful, relevant and interesting for everyone so please let us know what you think and what you’d like to see more of.
Contact us on: england.analystx@nhs.uk
