What you don't measure you don't change! MS Services need to measured. #PolicticalSpeak #MSBlog #MSResearch
"Yesterday someone made the comment that metrics and league tables are a waste of time. We should simply get on with our day job. If this was true how come the government spends so much resource on the ONS (Office for National Statistics)? Most of us work in a bubble and without league tables and metrics how would we know if what we were doing was good, mediocre or possibly bad? The basic rule of economics is that people, markets, systems, etc. respond to sticks (disincentives) and carrots (incentives). Most people are aspirational, ambitious and competitive; being at the bottom of a league table focuses the mind. This is why I am so in favour of measurement and metrics; don't underestimate the power of data to change things. If you can't measure it you can't change it."
"As an example; the following is a graph from the EMSP's MS Barometer of how we do in the EU in relation to DMT penetration in MS. Do you think this an appropriate position for us in the UK to be in? At least we don't come last. I must remind you that when you rank the countries on GDP per capita we come 10th (see league table below); so this should not be about money."
European Union | 13,920,541 | 507.4 | 27,300 | 27,300 | 100% | |
Germany | 2,903,790 | 80.8 | 33,800 | 35,200 | 124% | yes |
United Kingdom | 2,222,361 | 64.3 | 29,600 | 34,400 | 108% | no |
France | 2,132,449 | 65.9 | 29,300 | 32,400 | 107% | yes |
Italy | 1,616,048 | 60.8 | 26,500 | 26,600 | 97% | yes |
Spain | 1,058,469 | 46.5 | 25,500 | 22,800 | 93% | yes |
Netherlands | 653,476 | 16.8 | 35,600 | 38,700 | 130% | yes |
Sweden | 430,258 | 9.6 | 34,100 | 44,300 | 124% | no |
Poland | 413,133 | 38.5 | 18,600 | 10,700 | 68% | no |
Belgium | 402,027 | 11.2 | 32,500 | 36,100 | 119% | yes |
Austria | 328,886 | 8.5 | 34,900 | 38,500 | 128% | yes |
Denmark | 256,938 | 5.6 | 33,900 | 45,500 | 124% | no |
Finland | 204,015 | 5.5 | 30,000 | 37,400 | 110% | yes |
Ireland | 185,412 | 4.6 | 36,100 | 40,200 | 132% | yes |
Greece | 179,081 | 11.0 | 19,600 | 16,300 | 72% | yes |
Portugal | 174,384 | 10.4 | 21,400 | 16,800 | 78% | yes |
Czech Republic | 154,939 | 10.5 | 23,000 | 14,700 | 84% | no |
Romania | 150,665 | 19.9 | 14,600 | 7,600 | 54% | no |
Hungary | 103,303 | 9.9 | 18,500 | 10,500 | 68% | no |
Slovakia | 75,215 | 5.4 | 20,800 | 13,900 | 76% | yes |
Croatia | 43,085 | 4.2 | 16,100 | 10,200 | 59% | no |
Luxembourg | 45,288(2013) | 0.5 | 68,500(2013) | 83,100(2013) | 263% | yes |
Bulgaria | 42,011 | 7.2 | 12,300 | 5,800 | 45% | no |
Slovenia | 37,246 | 2.1 | 22,600 | 18,100 | 83% | yes |
Lithuania | 36,288 | 2.9 | 20,100 | 12,400 | 74% | yes |
Latvia | 24,058 | 2.0 | 17,600 | 12,100 | 64% | yes |
Estonia | 19,526 | 1.3 | 19,900 | 14,800 | 73% | yes |
Cyprus | 17,506 | 0.9 | 23,400 | 20,500 | 85% | yes |
Malta | 7,962 | 0.4 | 23,100 | 18,600 | 85% | yes |
"I hope this justifies why I have include the penetration of DMTs and the proportion of MSers who are on DMTs that are on second-line and/or highly-active DMTs as part of the quality metrics we should be collecting. May be you still disagree?"
"The following is the EMSP's MS barometer and summary sheets. I suggest you read them. What is interesting is how well, or not so well the UK does in collecting data about MS. This is why I am trying to make a call to action about the NICE MS Quality Statements, they don't address the holistic management of MS and they set the bar so low that the are unlikely to make a massive difference to the majority of MSers living in the UK. We need the quality statements to go a lot further. May be statement number 1 should be about accurate data collection."