This is perhaps an uninspiring title for a session with the power to change how important and how effective you will be in your career – big claim I know.

Statistical process control charts (SPCs) are not about producing charts - they are about optimising systems. SPCs can determine whether the variation in a system is natural or unnatural. SPCs detect the stability and control in a system.  In this presentation, I will provide guidance on producing and reading SPCs. I will show how to detect erroneous charts and how charts can be used to improve systems and turn data into intelligence.

Using SPCs will provide you with the ability to detect at the earliest possible opportunity when systems are going awry. They will increase your capability to monitor and improve outcomes throughout your organisation or even just in one laboratory. Most importantly, they will enable you to initiate quality improvement programmes which will show whether change is real improvement.

Finally, I have put the data from Semmelweis into SPCs – which I don’t think has been done before – these data show the effectiveness of his initial hand antisepsis programme. They also present a great lesson as to where to place the centre line and thus control limits in a system experiencing multiple outbreaks.

Pre-reading - A brief introduction to variation and systems