What is HSMA?
The Health Service Modelling Associates (HSMA) Programme teaches public sector analysts, clinicians and managers how to use data science and operational research techniques, as well as supporting them to apply these techniques in their organisations.
The full HSMA course experience is provided free of charge to people working in health, social care and policing organisations in England.
Recordings of previous course sessions, as well as all of our course materials and code, are offered free of charge to anyone, anywhere in the world for personal use and adaptation.
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The HSMA programme has supported over 400 people since its inception in 2016, helping analysts, clinicians, service managers and more to produce transformational data projects in their organisations. -
The course provides lecture videos, exercises, sample code and more for a diverse range of data science and operational research topics - all using the Python programming languages or other free and open source tools. -
With bespoke resources created to help break down complex topics for beginner audiences, HSMA can help you to understand and communicate the power of operational research and data science techniques in your organisations - and start doing the work yourself. -
Conceived and run by Dr Daniel Chalk - chair of the PenCHORD research group and an operational researcher with years of experience working on projects with healthcare services - and NIHR PenARC, HSMA is designed to build data science and operational research capacity within organisations so that those who know the data and services best are able to make the most of the data their organisations hold. -
Students from a wide range of organisations have been supported to create impactful projects, leading to the building of new wards, the setup of dedicated data science teams, and much more. -
The course provides everything you need to get started - including teaching the Python programming language from scratch. -
Lectures break down the steps required to get from idea to output, with the syllabus reflecting the real-world challenges the lecturers have faced in implementing data science and operational research projects. -
Being part of the HSMA community gives students a chance to gain expert advice from not only the lecturers, but a wider community of operational researchers, data scientists, and programme alumni. Students gain a valuable opportunity to network with like-minded people from across the country, forging links across organisations and sectors. -
The course continues to evolve every year, with techniques like natural language processing joining the syllabus in recent years to help people unlock the power of unstructured, free-text data. -
There is a strong focus on moving from concept to execution, with sessions covering the creation of dashboards, interactive web applications and other outputs that can help stakeholders engage with the powerful tools that are created without ever having to interact with the underlying code. -
Students are given the opportunity to present their project work to a large audience of their peers and people from the wider world of health, policing and social care, encouraging the wider reuse of project work created on the programme. -
The course also includes extensive content on machine learning, including neural networks. -
There is a strong focus on ethics and checking the performance of your models to ensure real-world value... -
... as well as on cutting-edge techniques for explaining how machine learning models reach their decisions. -
Aligning with the NHS's focus on reproducible analytical pipelines, HSMA's use of Python and dedicated content on reproducible outputs with Quarto and other tools can help individuals to get rid of repetitive, manual process; reduce mistakes; and free up time for doing more advanced work. -
With bespoke games, countless references to the 1980's, classic games and musicals, and even a bout of swordfighting to teach sentiment analysis, HSMA is designed to be a fun, friendly introduction to complex topics.
How Does the Programme Work?
The full HSMA experience is a live, 15-month programme with two distinct phases.
Our Materials
Whether you are an alumni, current participant, or someone who is looking to learn data science and operational research on your own, head over to our books or our HSMA 6 content recordings to work through this year’s course at your own pace.
Our Projects
While HSMA involves a large training element, the main focus of the programme is to support participants to undertake their own projects in their organisations.
On the website you can find more out about our projects that are currently in progress or projects that have previously been undertaken.
You can also view projects by method, by area of application, by HSMA cohort or by service.
Support and Accreditation
HSMA is supported by the NHS Digital Academy and delivered by a team belonging to the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration South West Peninsula (PenARC).
