iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Neil Pettinger @kurtstat.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I had the idea of visualizing the trend in >12-hour ED stays in the same way the BBC visualizes small boat arrivals. So these are cumulative weekly totals for each (colour-coded) year as we move from left to right. The projection for the remaining 14 weeks of 2026 is mine.

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Neil Pettinger @kurtstat.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Watching the BBC News just now. Expediting discharges from prison is as fraught with problems as expediting discharges from hospital.

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Diane Coyle @dianecoyle1859.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Interesting thread and comments. I suspect people in Treasury are unaware of what a f….-up MTD is.

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Jo Wolff @jowolff.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

About this time yesterday I was marvelling about how uplifting the World Cup has been, even though it’s taking place in Trump’s America. Incredible that’s he’s found a way to spoil it. An incredible achievement.

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Neil Pettinger @kurtstat.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

Pochettino could just not include him in the matchday squad #balogun

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Neil Pettinger @kurtstat.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

Data conversations need to take place between managers and data analysts. But managers don't initiate them because they have an antipathy towards data. And data analysts don't initiate them because they have an antipathy towards conversations.

This is a cross between a graph and a diagram. The horizontal axis is labelled "domain knowledge". The vertical axis is labelled "data knowledge". There's a blue square (labelled "Data analysts") positioned in the graph's top left quadrant and a red square (labelled "Managers") positioned in the graph's bottom right quadrant. Between the two squares is a double-pointed arrow labelled "Data conversations".

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Neil Pettinger @kurtstat.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

When we want to describe how an AMU affects its patients' prior length of stay in the ED, 'heaviness' explains it better than fullness. But 'stickiness' explains it even better.

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Iain Roberts @slowbikeiain.bsky.social · 20/01/2026

Yesterday it was cows using tools, today its penguins using satellite imagery.

Headline: "Scientists discover emperor penguin colony in Antarctica using satellite images"

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enlighten @enlightenscot.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

"All of these three measurement failings – the wrong doors, the wrong time zone, the wrong connotations – conspire to prevent the rigorous examination of cause-&-effect relationships in the health & care system that’s needed" @kurtstat.bsky.social for #NHS2048 www.enlighten.scot/nhs2048/thre...

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Cethan Leahy @cethanleahy.com · 12/11/2025

Well, it's a little clearer now why billionaires are so invested in technology that produces better written emails.

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Jessica Elgot @jessicaelgot.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

Guys this is the ONE client you really need to double check

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Neil Pettinger @kurtstat.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

My AMU 'heaviness' metric came about after I tried showing AMU lengths of stay so far (ALoSSF) as horizontal timelines on top of each other. On the left: a snapshot that captured 60 patients with an ALoSSF of 24.6 hours. On the right: 58 patients with an ALoSSF of 37.8 hours. #rstats #ggplot2

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Neil Pettinger @kurtstat.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

I want to have a go at adapting Stuart Hall's encoding/decoding model so that it works for how healthcare data messages are communicated. I think the key to this is how I flesh out the meaning structures on each side of the diagram.

Stuart Hall's encoding/decoding model (adapted from his 1973 essay) made to look a bit smarter with blue and pink text boxes.

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Neil Pettinger @kurtstat.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

I'm hoping that - eventually - *everyone* involved in acute hospital patient flow will be talking about AMU 'heaviness'! (Meanwhile I can't work out if this chart is a volcano metaphor or a Pandora's Box metaphor...) #rstats #ggplot2

A scatterplot showing the relationship between Acute Medical Unit (AMU) 'heaviness' (measured along the horizontal axis) and Emergency Department (ED) length of stay (measured up the vertical axis). 366 overlapping grey dots in the chart represent the 366 days of the year. A "green zone of flow" has been (arbitrarily) drawn in the bottom left of the chart.
NOTE: AMU 'heaviness' is calculated as each day's average number of occupied beds multiplied by each day's average length of stay so far.

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Neil Pettinger @kurtstat.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

Acute Medical Unit (AMU) 'heaviness' scores are calculated by multiplying each day's AMU mean lengths of stay by the same day's AMU fullness snapshots. The scores are closely correlated with Emergency Department (ED) performance, so I thought a scatterplot would be the way to go. #rstats #ggplot2

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Neil Pettinger @kurtstat.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

Error in gg_point() : could not find function "gg_point". Please tell me I'm not the only person who's made this mistake! #rstats #ggplot2

ggplot(data = df_resp_midday) +
aes(x = total_fullness,
y = no_of_wrong_wards) +
gg_point()

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Jessica Ellis @baddestmamajama.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

Tried to sneak a photo of a cute doggo and accidentally had long exposure on and I believe I have created man’s greatest expression of art

A white poodle leans out an suv with neon light streaks flashing across the surface of the car

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Neil Pettinger @kurtstat.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

I'm working on a diagram that shows how we might incorporate emotion into data visualizations. I'm trying to mash together some ideas from Gavin McMahon's new book (www.story-business.com) with Don Norman's three layers of design (www.interaction-design.org/literature/a...).

A diagram that is basically a square. The horizontal axis is labelled Reason > judgement. The vertical axis is labelled Emotion > action. Within the square, a path is suggested first up the vertical axis (by using the visceral layer of design), then across the horizontal axis (using the behavioural layer of design), and finally up to the top of the vertical axis (using the reflective layer of design). The diagram is titled "Reason leads to judgement; emotion leads to action."

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Neil Pettinger @kurtstat.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

This is a fascinating - and excellent - post by @samfr.bsky.social on his recent experience of being an NHS hospital patient. My heart jumped when I saw bed occupancy mentioned in the article: I have “views” on bed occupancy, so I thought I’d say something about it. substack.com/inbox/post/1... 1/6

Reposted by Neil Pettinger

Miranda Keeling @mirandakeeling.com · 17/10/2025

Man walking into the Post Office earlier: You look like a person who knows about things. Person behind the til: I do? Well I know about some things I suppose. Man (showing him his phone): Good. What do I press to answer this thing?

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Neil Pettinger @kurtstat.bsky.social · 16/10/2025

I still think of pivot_wider() as magic, basically.

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Neil Pettinger @kurtstat.bsky.social · 16/10/2025

Indicators of patient flow dysfunction mainly focus on either the hospital front door (e.g. breaches of the four-hour target) or the hospital back door (e.g. delayed transfers of care). But patient flow dysfunction manifests itself *everywhere* in a general hospital. 1/6

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Neil Pettinger @kurtstat.bsky.social · 26/09/2025

I've been using open access data to explore the relationship between Emergency Department 12-hour performance and ambulance turnaround times. Each blue dot is a week between mid-November last year and early September this year. It's a pretty close relationship for this hospital.

A scatterplot showing the relationship between the percentage of an emergency department's patients seen within 12 hours (measured along the horizontal axis) and the median ambulance turnaround time (measured in minutes up the vertical axis). The scatterplot has 43 blue dots on it, each dot representing a single week in the 43 -week period from 18 November 2024 to 8 September 2025. A clear pattern is visible. Weeks with high 12-hour compliance percentages are associated with shorter ambulance turnaround times. And weeks with low 12-hour compliance percentages are associated with longer ambulance turnaround times.

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Neil Pettinger @kurtstat.bsky.social · 26/09/2025

Just had an email from Microsoft telling me that my 365 subscription is increasing in price by 31%.

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Michael O’Neill @michaeloneill.org · 25/09/2025

Please enjoy today, 25/9/2025, the last square date until 2116 (5^2/3^2/45^2).

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Neil Pettinger @kurtstat.bsky.social · 25/09/2025

There’s a great talk by Marc Farr (“I wish I was macho instead of just deep”) that you can view on the Midlands Analyst Network website. It's very thought-provoking. Here are some of my thoughts… 1/18

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Neil Pettinger @kurtstat.bsky.social · 25/09/2025

American fascist: your going to the camps, American Liberal, chuckling: ‘you’re’. "You don’t fight the politics of violence by quibbling with the details! You stamp it into a million pieces!" Fantastic piece by @jonnelledge.bsky.social substack.com/inbox/post/1...

substack.com

What Do We Have To Lose

If Keir Starmer won’t even make a moral case against deporting our friends and neighbours, then what is the point of him? Plus: some natural borders; and the non-existence of grey, and other letters.

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Neil Pettinger @kurtstat.bsky.social · 25/09/2025

Is there a difference between upper case emphasis and bold-and-underlined emphasis?

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Neil Pettinger @kurtstat.bsky.social · 25/09/2025

This graffiti on Restalrig Road made me remember that fantastic article by Nicholas Carr ("The Tyranny of Now") in which he wrote about Harold Innis's distinction between 'time-biased' media and 'space-biased' media! www.thenewatlantis.com/publications...

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Neil Pettinger @kurtstat.bsky.social · 25/09/2025

You don't have to be old to be right wing, but it helps. Great graph by @owenwntr.bsky.social in @samfr.bsky.social's latest newsletter.

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Neil Pettinger @kurtstat.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

I've just had a quick glance at this book - it looks ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC!!!

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RJ Andrews @infowetrust.com · 08/09/2025

“Why not paintings or sculpture or other persuasive visual images, or persuasion by the written word alone? … A map is different from other forms of communication because it is uniquely presumed to be a source of honest, objective information.” persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/about/

persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu

About | Persuasive Maps

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Eliot Higgins @eliothiggins.bsky.social · 09/09/2025

I've written a lot about disordered discourse and counterpublics, but given recent events I want to cover a key part of disordered discourse, which I call the four pillars of disordered doubt.

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Will Davies @will-davies.bsky.social · 09/09/2025

"I regret the thing that someone else did to me"

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Neil Pettinger @kurtstat.bsky.social · 06/09/2025

The top of Arthur's Seat (Edinburgh) seen from Crow Hill this morning.

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gmdonald.bsky.social @gmdonald.bsky.social · 02/09/2025

1/ Scotland hospital (EDs) weekly A&E performance, week ending August 24 - Rise in %age Within 4 Hours, remaining at 2022/23/24 levels - public.tableau.com/views/Scotla...

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Neil Pettinger @kurtstat.bsky.social · 03/09/2025

You can access long - and interesting - emergency care data timelines from the @publichealthscot.bsky.social website. www.publichealthscotland.scot/healthcare-s...

Two time series charts side by side. The chart on the left shows monthly attendances at NHS Scotland's Type 1 A&E departments. The chart on the right shows monthly four-hour compliance at NHS Scotland's Type 1 A&E departments. The time period is the same in both charts: July 2007 to June 2025. Attendances have been relatively stable (apart from the COVID-19 blip in 2020) at between 100,000 and 125,000 per month. By contrast, four-hour compliance has declined - first gradually (2011 to 2021), then sharply (2021 to 2023) - before stabilizing at between 60-70% in the last two years.

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Declan Gaffney @greyskiesthinking.bsky.social · 27/08/2025

German diplomat at Versailles: 'I wonder what future historians will say about all this.' Clemenceau: 'Well they won't say Belgium invaded Germany.'

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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 27/08/2025

It shows such a basic lack of political understanding that Labour didn't go straight on the attack over this. Just because most people are worried about immigration being too high it doesn't mean they're psychopaths.

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Neil Pettinger @kurtstat.bsky.social · 27/08/2025

This is how the NHS sees its patient flow problem.

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Daz @dazwright.com · 27/08/2025

Well it’s bizarre that in 2025 the political dividing line is pro rounding people up and putting them in camps and anti rounding people up and putting them in camps. Even more bizarre that the nuanced position of the Government appears to be rounding people up and putting them in better run camps

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Neil Pettinger @kurtstat.bsky.social · 26/08/2025

@chrisbrogan.bsky.social This is what happens when you try to be brutally honest with yourself in relation to the Impact Attributes...

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Neil Pettinger @kurtstat.bsky.social · 26/08/2025

I bought this book by @chrisbrogan.bsky.social and Julien Smith ages ago. Well, I'm finally getting round to reading it. Up to page 70 already. It's very, very good.

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Neil Pettinger @kurtstat.bsky.social · 26/08/2025

Looking over north Edinburgh towards the Firth of Forth from the top of Crow Hill (the hill next to Arthur's Seat).

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Neil Pettinger @kurtstat.bsky.social · 25/08/2025

I was inspired by @nrennie.bsky.social's datafile of the Scottish Munros, and managed to create a rough 'progress-so-far' scatterplot. But - alas! - I am new to #rstats maps and have absolutely no idea how to superimpose an outline of Scotland on this...

A scatterplot of the 282 Munros (mountains in Scotland more than 3,000 feet (914m) in height. The mountains are positioned on the 'map' according to their grid reference coordinates. Blue dots indicate Munros already climbed by Neil; red dots are the Munros still to be climbed.

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Neil Pettinger @kurtstat.bsky.social · 18/08/2025

I took Scotland's four-hour compliance data going back to 2008 and drew a 17-year trendline. I'm trying to come up with names for The Five Stages of Four-hour Compliance. So far I've got: 1. Achievement 2. Hankering 3. Brief - very brief - remission 4. Collapse 5. Late rally #rstats #ggplot2

A line graph showing monthly measures of compliance with the four-hour target for Type 1 A&E departments in NHS Scotland. The timeline goes from the start of 2008 to June 2025. Grey rectangles have been superimposed over the line to indicate successive 'stages' in the compliance trajectory.

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Neil Pettinger @kurtstat.bsky.social · 17/08/2025

The top of Mount Keen, the easternmost Munro.

A photo of the view from the top of Mount Keen. Trig point in the foreground.

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Prof Christina Pagel @chrischirp.bsky.social · 15/08/2025

we need this on uk tv asap

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