The sacramentum

In ancient Roman law, the sacramentum was an oath or vow that rendered the swearer ever loyal to the Legion.NHS Scotland has recently focussed on this dictat: “without data you’re just another person with opinions”.

Healthcare Improvement Scotland has to date introduced eleven “cohorts” of “improvers” to Scotland. NHS Scotland is being “transformed”.

“Improvement science” methodology was originally introduced by a few key individuals who were keen to introduce approaches developed outside Scotland and based upon engineering principles. These approaches have been exported across the world by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, Boston:

The growing “legion” is expected to follow the “improvement science” sacramentum. However concerns have been raised that this follows a reductionist approach that often fails to consider ethics: