What Strategy Unit does

Strategy Unit is a health and care consultancy embedded within the NHS Midlands and Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit, operating from Birmingham, England. Founded in 2013 and structured as an internal NHS consultancy (government/state entity), it provides research, analysis, evaluation, and strategic advisory services to NHS England, NHS trusts, Integrated Care Boards, Clinical Senates, and other public-sector health organisations. The unit's core customers are national and regional NHS bodies, with select commissions from the Mayor of London, the NHS Race and Health Observatory, and Health Foundation-funded research projects. Customers span England's NHS system with a Midlands base and growing UK-wide reach.

The unit operates a multi-product portfolio anchored on three pillars: a knowledge community (the Midlands Analyst Network, with 1,400+ members and fortnightly MS Teams Huddles), an events/conferences programme (SU Insights), and a set of open-source analytical tools published via GitHub (the-strategy-unit.github.io). The open-source assets include a demand and capacity model for the New Hospital Programme covering 90+ hospital activity types, an Aging Population Planning Tool, a CKD/KRT Pathway Model, and the Left Shift Tool, alongside simulation modelling, training in R and RStudio, and evaluation/research services. Technology centres on structured NHS datasets (Hospital Episodes Statistics, primary and community care data), R-based reproducible analytics, simulation modelling, and predictive modelling for demand forecasting and risk stratification.

Revenue is generated through commissioned NHS consultancy contracts procured via NHS commissioning frameworks on a project-by-project basis, with multi-year agreements on flagship programmes such as the New Hospital Programme. Distribution is direct to commissioning NHS bodies; marketing is led by thought-leadership content, research publications, community events, and Bluesky social channels rather than paid advertising. The commercial proposition combines NHS-domain expertise, a strong national analytical community, and reusable open-source IP to differentiate from external consultancies and competing NHS Commissioning Support Units.

Name

Strategy Unit

Legal name

The Strategy Unit

Website

https://strategyunitwm.nhs.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Strategy Unit is an NHS-affiliated health and care consultancy within the Midlands and Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit, providing research, analytics, evaluation, and strategic advisory services to NHS England, NHS trusts, Integrated Care Boards, and other UK public-sector health organisations.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Healthcare Analytics and Consulting

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Healthcare Utilization, Claims & Administrative Data Analytics (HLAJAJAK)

akta.pro secondary industry

Change Management & Transformation Consulting (BPAHAGAC)

Keywords

• Healthcare analytics
• NHS consultancy
• Service evaluation
• Demand modelling
• Population health

Headquarters

HQ city

Birmingham

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. NHS Commissioning and Contracts: Funded through commissioned work from NHS England, NHS trusts, Integrated Care Boards (ICBs), Clinical Senates, and other NHS bodies. Services are procured through NHS contracting frameworks and direct commissioning relationships.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The Strategy Unit is an internal NHS analytics and change consultancy providing commissioned research, evaluation, and strategic advisory services to NHS England, Integrated Care Boards, NHS Trusts, and Clinical Senates across England. It delivers open-source analytical tools (Demand and Capacity Model, Left Shift Tool, Aging Population Planning Tool, CKD/KRT Pathway Model), training programmes (R, RStudio, data literacy), and community-building offerings (Midlands Analyst Network with 1,400+ members and SU Insights events) that support evidence-based NHS planning and population health management.

Product overview

The Strategy Unit is an NHS analytics and consultancy organization offering a unified portfolio of knowledge community, events, analytical tools, and consulting services. Core offerings include the Midlands Analyst Network (MAN) - a community of over 1,400 health analysts with fortnightly MS Teams Huddles - and SU Insights event series. The Strategy Unit provides open-source analytical tools including a Demand Model for the New Hospital Programme, Left Shift Tool, Aging Population Planning Tool, and CKD/KRT Pathway Model. Services span evaluation, research, training (R, data literacy), and simulation modelling. All offerings support NHS planning, population health management, and health system transformation.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Midlands Analyst Network (MAN) A community network launched in April 2020 connecting over 1,400 health and care analysts across NHS and wider public sector organisations, primarily in the Midlands and increasingly across the UK. Provides fortnightly online Huddles on MS Teams covering analytical topics and good practice sharing, available to members as a free professional community.
• SU Insights A series of events hosted by the Strategy Unit exploring the latest analytical insights with leading experts, covering topics on neighbourhood health, digital technology, outcomes-based commissioning, and healthcare analytics. Targeted at NHS professionals and policy audiences.
• Strategy Unit Demand Model (Open-Source) An open-source demand and capacity model developed for the New Hospital Programme, describing over 90 types of hospital activity that could potentially be mitigated through community-based care. Supports NHS hospital planning with evidence-based projections and is published via the Strategy Unit GitHub.
• Left Shift Tool A tool enabling health and care systems to explore opportunities to reduce hospital care and deliver the 'left shift' - moving care from hospital to community settings.
• Aging Population Planning Tool Open-source web application to help local organisations plan for population aging, enabling projections of future demand based on demographic changes.
• CKD/KRT Pathway Model Open-source model to understand future demand in Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) and Kidney Replacement Therapy (KRT) pathways, presented at the Midlands Analyst Network Huddle in March 2026.
• Ethnicity Reporting Guidance Guidance for analysts on maximising the use of ethnicity data, developed to support consistent and effective ethnicity reporting across NHS analytics.
• Evaluation Services Applied research and evaluation services for NHS and health organisations, including programme evaluations (e.g., Heart Failure Targeted Funding Programme, hydration interventions), policy evaluations, and health needs assessments.
• Research and Analysis Strategic consultancy providing research, analysis, and change support for the NHS, including policy analysis, health economics, population health analysis, and system planning.
• Training Training programmes for analysts and healthcare professionals, including R and RStudio training, RMarkdown, data literacy, and analytical skill development delivered through the NHS-R Community.
• Simulation Modelling Healthcare analysis using simulation approaches for problem solving, including perioperative flow analysis and elective care pathway modelling for NHS clients.

Named customers7 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

AI capability6 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core and secondary.

• NHS England Behavioural Science UnitcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 13 May 2026Commissioned by NHS England's Behavioural Science Unit (BSU) to evaluate interventions designed to improve adherence and help people stay engaged in NHS Talking Therapies, demonstrating capability in complex programme evaluation.
• Mayor of LondoncoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 5 May 2026Commissioned by the Mayor of London to produce independent reviews of proposals for major service change affecting Londoners. The Strategy Unit conducts systematic, objective assessments aligned with the Mayor's 'Four Tests' framework for health and care transformations, supporting the Mayor's statutory duties around health inequalities.
• Health FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFunded research partner for key analytical projects including the '10-Year Productivity Forecast for the English NHS: An Expert Elicitation Study' and analysis on patients discharged without a diagnosis. Provides research funding and expertise for healthcare analysis.
• NHS Race and Health ObservatorysecondaryStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborative work exploring cultural adaptations in dementia care, supporting the NHS Race and Health Observatory's mission to address health inequalities through evidence-based analysis.
• New Hospital ProgrammecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerStrategic partnership with the New Hospital Programme providing analytical support. Strategy Unit leads the partnership, providing methodological advice and developing open-source demand and capacity models to support hospital planning across England.
• Midlands and Lancashire Commissioning Support UnitcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Strategy Unit website is hosted and managed by Midlands and Lancashire CSU (NHS ML) and Arden and Greater East Midlands Commissioning Support Unit (AGEM), providing infrastructure and operational support for the Strategy Unit's digital presence.
• West Midlands Clinical SenatesecondaryStrategic or Co-development PartnerPrepared advice on clinical assurance evidence framework for those developing proposals, working on behalf of Clinical Senates nationally to help sponsoring organizations build required evidence from project inception.
• HDR UK MidlandssecondaryStrategic or Co-development PartnerBuilding a regional data science network through the Midlands Analyst Network, supporting Health Data Research UK (HDR UK) Midlands in developing the health data research ecosystem.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Carnall Farrar: UK healthcare consultancy specialising in strategy, transformation, and analytics for NHS organisations. Direct competitor for NHS transformation and analytics commissions with overlapping target buyers.
• RAND Europe: Research and analysis organisation with a substantial health systems research practice serving public-sector clients across Europe, including NHS-adjacent bodies. Comparable in applied research, evaluation methodology, and policy analytical rigour.
• NHS Confederation: Membership body for NHS organisations that also produces research, analysis, and policy support for ICS/NHS leaders. Overlaps with Strategy Unit's policy and system-level analytics work and serves the same senior commissioning audience.
• Nuffield Trust: Independent health think tank producing applied research and analysis on NHS and UK healthcare systems. Same NHS policy and evidence niche, comparable research methodology, and overlapping customer base of senior NHS and statutory commissioners.
• The Health Foundation: Independent charitable foundation funding and producing health and care research and analysis. Strategy Unit has co-produced the 10-Year Productivity Forecast with the Health Foundation, making it a strong functional peer in NHS analytics and policy work.
• The King's Fund: Independent charitable foundation working to improve health and care in England through research, analysis, and policy influencing. Directly comparable as a senior NHS research/policy organisation serving similar statutory clients.

Broad incumbents

• Deloitte (Healthcare): Global consultancy with a substantial NHS and UK healthcare transformation and analytics practice. Competes for the same senior NHS commissions but at significantly larger scale across multiple sectors.
• PA Consulting: Global innovation and transformation consultancy with a strong NHS and public-sector healthcare practice. Operates in the same analytics and transformation commissioning market from a broader commercial base.
• McKinsey (Healthcare Practice): Global management consultancy with a dedicated healthcare practice actively serving NHS England and NHS trusts on transformation and analytics. Represents broader commercial competition for senior NHS commissioning commissions.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• GitHubgithub.com/The-Strategy-Unit
• Xx.com/strategy_unit
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/the-strategy-unit

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles11 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Strategy Unit