As well as being chief economist at the Department of Health and Social Security, Clive Smee oversaw other analysts. In that role he was a strong supporter – provided of course that we delivered to his high standards – of operational research (OR), a section that I headed from 1990 to 2008.
He ensured that the insights on matters such as feasible and safe standards for patient waiting times or hospital bed occupancy, or how information about health risks could be best communicated to the public, or the design of new services such as the telephone helpline NHS Direct (now NHS 111), were heard at the top. The title of his memoir, Speaking Truth to Power (2005), was thoroughly to the point.
