Recommendations
Individual Feedback
If you have received training from me, please send in your comments using the feedback form and I will ensure they are included on this page. Please indicate whether you are happy to be identified in the feedback.
I've been talking a lot lately about the importance of data literacy. A great person to learn from is John Varlow.
I had the privilege to work for John at NHS Digital where he taught me the rigours required to run data and analytics on a massive scale to the highest of standards for National Statistics.
Whether you're at the beginning of your data journey or looking to elevate your skills, his courses are a wonderful opportunity to learn from a true expert.
Chief Data & Analytics Officer | DataIQ 100 2024 | Data Leader of the Year 2023
John has helped us work through information challenges from data collection through IG issues, and how to analyse and report. He's highly competent in all these areas and I totally recommend his consultancy offer. The training he provides is exceptional and having reviewed the data storytelling course I'm very impressed - well worth doing this.
Director at Paul Iggulden Associates
John was an excellent tutor for our daughter when she took some extended leave from mainstream education. He worked with her on Maths and Science for 4 hours per week and we saw Daisy's confidence and ability in both areas increase significantly. The lessons were online and this worked efficiently and John also gave us the option for face to face tuition as required.
I would have no hesitation in recommending John as a consistent, reliable and high quality tutor and we are very grateful for the knowledge he shared which I am sure will have a positive effect on her GCSE results this year.
Kate C
My son and daughter have had a great education at secondary school, but they just needed a bit of extra tuition, time, and reassurance in maths and combined science. We chose John to step in and give them that extra help. This he did most admirably . His knowledge, approachable friendly manner, patience when my children struggled to understand and being a confidence booster to them both was a fantastic help.
I can without a shadow of a doubt highly recommend John to anyone whose child or young adult needs that little extra help.
Many thanks John
Victoria Brook
I have worked with John for over three years now and I am always amazed at his ability to find solutions to highly complex problems.
His statistical knowledge, coupled with his diligence over issues such as data protection has enabled us to present products to clients that have not only reduced the time taken to record and report on data by over 75% but has also given them the peace of mind that the data is not only accurate, but that it also protects the rights of the data subject.
From a personal perspective, John is easy to talk to and can explain the most difficult of technical details with ease. I am often humbled to work with him, and that doesn't happen often!
John joined Public Health Gibraltar during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. He assisted in automating a number of different key daily reports using his expertise in Power Query and Power Bi. He also created a fully operational patient bed management system which allowed the organisation to track patients (COVID-19 positive in particular) efficiently, amongst other functions. His expertise and knowledge in statistics and epidemiology were also invaluable during extremely uncertain times. He was also a key part in launching our Health & Lifestyle and School Surveys.
On a personal level John is a fantastic person who is easy to work with, passionate and professional. He is extremely hard working individual which has taught me so much. I am grateful for the time I got to work alongside him!
Chartered Statistician (CStat), Public Health Gibraltar
John was an absolute gem in what he did and supported in our hour of need. I cannot recommend him highly enough!
Recipient of the Gibraltar Medallion of Honour for services to Public Health in a pandemic (2021)
Open Door has a complex data collection and analysis requirement with data required both for service reporting and for clinical monitoring and evaluation. Capturing and analysing this data is multi-faceted due to the variety of different clinical outcome measures used across the service. We had been using a large and complex Excel spreadsheet to generate our reporting and evaluation data but had concerns about its sustainability. Extensive market research had not produced an off-the-shelf product which could do what was required. CHAIn was engaged to undertake a scoping piece of work which led to their recommendation to build a new data model which would meet all our requirements. The process of integrating all the required functionality into the new model felt daunting, but Huw and John laid out a pathway of how this could be achieved and were able to explain what the final model would look like in non-technical jargon. John in particular was very patient and held our hands each step of the way. He definitely appears to live by the motto of ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ and we are grateful to both Huw and John for providing us with an end product which we are hopeful will meet our requirements for some years to come!
Operations Manager, Open Door Young People's Consultation Service
John was a fantastic help to me when I was in need of help understanding digital analytics. He very quickly made things make sense and put what appeared to be huge amounts of data in proportion in a way which all of a sudden made sense.
I found John was there for me when I needed him, and after every time we spoke, I gained genuine confidence in web analytics.
John will certainly be the first person I approach next time I am in need of digital or data related advice and guidance.
Research and Insights Manager, Stickyeyes
John provided me and my team with three excellent courses on using statistics in healthcare management. All three courses were clear concise and accompanied by relevant examples and exercises to make sure the knowledge stuck. I’ve been able to apply what I learnt to my daily work several times since completing the courses. I’d certainly recommend his courses to anyone trying to make sure they use the appropriate statistical tools to ensure decision making is backed up by sound evidence.
Technical and Data Manager, People Plan programme team NHS England and NHS Improvement
I have taken Statistical, Forecasting and SPC training with John during this financial year. The courses are well structured, easy to follow and contain the most important information on these difficult topics in statistics; they are also well presented. I have recently contacted John because I had some questions about the Nelson rules and how these rules can be applied to access performance using the SPC. John immediately responded and provided comprehensive answers which improved my of SPC. I highly recommend using the training provided by John to either brush up on your stats skills or learn new skills.
Operational Research Analyst, Department of Health
John's sincerity and integrity build on what is a wealth of knowledge and experience
Programme Manager, GPIT Futures Transition, NHS Digital
Can I add my name to the John Varlow appreciation group . In a world where we need health analytics / stats common sense and epidemiology more than ever - John is a star . I worked with him too and can attest to his skills and ability to share his knowledge with others. He is also just great to work with.
Chief Medical Officer (Europe,Middle East and Africa) at Watson Health and IBM
I worked closely with John Varlow and have to say that his expertise in NHS data and statistics was a real source of expertise. John runs his own NHS data training services and I know being an independent is hard during these weird times, so if you need healthcare data / statistics training please do consider him.
Managing Partner (Health) at Agilisys
Not only a great informatics professional but also a great colleague, mentor, coach and a person of huge integrity. John has also delivered some courses locally in the Midlands and received very high reviews.
Head of Health Informatics at Nottingham Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
I have had the privilege to work with John and also attend training delivered by him. By far the best training I have had relating to data and statistics in my career.
Senior Information Analyst at NHS Business Services Authority
I worked with John for several years and he was handling a wealth of patient data from the NHS that needs to be handled confidentially while proving evidence and insights into trends across the health and care sector. Taking the opportunity to learn from John's knowledge and experience is highly recommended.
Communications and Engagement Manager at NHS England
I have known John for a number of years and what strikes me is his natural ability to articulate analysis and statistics in a manner that is easily understandable that also broadens our minds to allow a deeper level of understanding. I would thoroughly recommend using his services whether in a tutor led environment or on a one to one consultancy basis.
Service Account Manager at The Health Informatics Service
John Varlow provided AphA with a series of high quality training events which all evaluated well with our members. We have not commissioned these to continue due to the difficulty in persuading NHS trusts to invest in training for individual analysts or teams, and is not a reflection of the quality of training provided
Excellent Data Insight/Statistics session today, really simplified some difficult to understand concepts, will definitely help me in supporting colleagues at L&D. thanks to @johnrvarlow for sharing his (considerable) knowledge, @uhllib for hosting & @lundambuyu for organising!
Health Librarian at Luton and Dunstable NHS FT
The advent of data science has not removed the need to understand what the models are doing and if they are any good at predicting the outcome you are modelling. I heartily recommend John's courses to anyone who wants to learn more of this area
Lead Data Scientist at Hiscox
I commissioned John to develop and deliver a pragmatic one-day course Introduction to Forecasting, targetted at public health analysts from the 15 local authorities in the region. He managed the project very professionally, and the course evaluated well. Delegates appreciated both a) explanations of the concepts, and b) the chance to put theory into practice using Excel on a number of practice examples
Scott Anderson
Senior Health Intelligence Specialist, Local Knowledge & Intelligence Service (Yorkshire and the Humber), Public Health England
I would have no hesitation in recommending John. He has a comprehensive understanding of statistics and their applications, and is able to impart this knowledge in a clear and understandable way- Thank you!
(Feedback on on-to-one consultancy)
Alice Kavati
University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust
I found the Time Series and Forecasting session to be extremely informative. John flexed the content to an audience of varied prior knowledge; ensuring that he addressed as many of their needs as possible. The content was ordered logically and full context of each step given. John was knowledgeable, professional and engaging - highly recommended!
(Feedback via website)
Deputy Head of Business Intelligence, Gloucestershire Hospitals Foundation Trust
The maths interventions from John have been timely and effective. Our son struggles with the teaching style in his school. John has an ability to teach and explain simple and complex concepts clearly. He's given my son the confidence and ability to tackle maths problems. He also is friendly and approachable even when our son has not yet grasped the concept. I'm really pleased with our son's progress. He's hoping for a GCSE Grade 8. With John's tuition we think he'll get it,
Lee B
I booked and did not regret it. Great session on time series forecasting yesterday, just surprised there weren’t more analytical colleagues there.
Assistant Director of Insight, Nottingham University Hospitals
Thank you John Varlow for bringing statistics to life. Thoroughly enjoyed the training today. Excellent course arranged by @ULHTLKS, the fabulous ULHT library team.
University of Lincoln Hospitals NHS Trust
I have had the pleasure of being John’s student for Statistics and Microsoft Power BI at the Gibraltar Health Authority. John has an amazing command of his course material, combined with the knack of delivering the content in bite sized chunks for those of all levels. If you are looking for training, book John now. You won’t be disappointed.
I had the pleasure of attending training earlier in the year, which John delivered. He knows his stuff and delivers it well. Don’t miss it.
John came to us in a Gibraltar and quickly came to terms with our situation. He delivered two “taster” training sessions (project management & Epidemiology/stats) which were very well received, with people wanting more. He also ascertained where we were with respect to our journey on digitalisation, and gave clear recommendations on our next steps on the road to development. We certainly hope to continue to develop our partnership and would highly recommend John both as a trainer as well as a Consultant with extensive links with the digital health economy in England.
Director of Public Health, Gibraltar
Excellent trainer. Massively experienced. You will only really understand the central limit theorem if you have learnt it with lego! He will supercharge any data science/informatics team he is pointed at.
Principal data manager (data science), NHS Digital
I went on a statistics course that @johnrvarlow put on through @apha_analysts just before John left NHS Digital. Simply put it was brilliant.
Nottinghamshire NHS Health Care
Great days training today in Taunton ,Regression Methods & Models, with @apha_analysts, @johnrvarlow.
Don't get to do proper maths very often so if I understood it all then anyone can!! Great training....book yourself on. Your heteroskedasticity depends on it!!!
Royal Bournemouth Hospital
Great day learning regression methods and models with @johnrvarlow through @apha_analysts
NHS Bristol
Thank you to @johnrvarlow for a really useful statistics course today with @apha_analysts. I am 95% confident on defining my statistics now (!) and looking forward to applying these in our analysis ...it was a really good day with lots of learning to take back and apply! Would highly recommend fellow analysts to attend your future courses.
Poole Hospital
This drawing from a @johnrvarlow demonstration is a good reflection of my face during / since the session. Stopped off now for food and a leg stretch. Thanks John, @apha_analysts & @NottsHealthcare(DPM) for this opportunity and really looking forward to the next ones
Nottinghamshire NHS Health Care
Was a great day, very helpful! I particularly liked the WHY, not just the how, because that is something you can't learn from the books. (Time Series and Forecasting)
Senior National UEC Analyst, NHS Improvement
John is an excellent teacher with substantial knowledge in health research, statistics and epidemiology. Having taught numerous NHS and public sector staff (clinical and non-clinical) for over 18 years he is able to make complex disciplines easy to learn by providing ‘real life’ examples across a multitude of disciplines. He uses his vast experience of working at a senior level within national NHS office and sharing this knowledge to enable practical applications within the subject matter. Student feedback is always excellent, with many regular attendees. Having worked closely with John for over 10 years I can highly recommend his teaching/ training knowledge without any hesitation.
Research & Development Lead at Calderdale & Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust
Great session John. So useful to have practical exercises to work through as well to embed the learning. (Time Series and Forecasting)
Interim Associate Director Information & Performance, NHS Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG)
John you are the first person to really help me get a grasp of statistics after I abandoned my statistics GCSE aged 15! Fantastic course and highly recommended 👍🏻
Senior Research Midwife, Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Cluster Lead for Reproductive health and Childbirth. Yorkshire and the Humber.
Thanks for a great day of stats training! Made my train and now figuring out how to put it all into practice... Hopefully see you for part two!
NHS Wales
I attended the 12 week course a few years back. Picked up so much from John and Asifa. Have been continuously learning the art and science of research since then and still dip into the workbook every now and then. Highly recommended!
Research Fellow, University of Bradford & Born in Bradford (Innovation Hub)
"John is one of the most experienced and knowledgable people in his field. His ability to not only convey complex information in a way that is understandable but also engaging at multiple levels is a rare quality. He also "gets" the importance of developing others above and below in this field for the greater good."
Director of Health Informatics, Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust
I have known and worked with John for a number of years. He is a highly professional technical expert and leader. An area that he excels in is training Healthcare Analytics and Statistics. He has a wonderful ability to make complex subjects understandable taking his audience on a journey that they will always remember. As data becomes more and more important in running the NHS effectively and efficiently I think that every Information Analyst in the NHS should have this training.
Associate Director of Information Services, Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust
I attended John's teaching session for APHA on statistical analysis earlier this year at NHS Digital in Leeds. I can honestly say that it was the most engaging learning experience I have been involved in during my career in the NHS. A long day involving some complex concepts was delivered with enthusiasm. Not a minute of the day was wasted and everyone I spoke to during the day felt that the training was well delivered and of exceptional quality.