This quote starts on page 117 of the Kennedy report on the “rogue surgeon” Ian Paterson:
And, there is a deeper point. The pursuit of data might be seen, at some point, as some sort of displacement activity. Wrestling with the very human problem of the patient can be postponed while the technical issue about data, which the clinician- scientist is more comfortable with, can be resolved. Indeed, if there is one lesson to be learned from the many occasions when things appear to have gone wrong in the NHS, it is that senior managers and doctors who are reluctant to confront what is actually happening, take refuge in the call for data. The data will give the answer. And, the next lesson of history, of course, is that once data is produced, it becomes the focus of argument: is it valid, is it the right data, is the interpretation valid, is it complete, and so on: an approach captured in the memorable expression, “dissing the data is an art form in healthcare”. Time without number, a concern about the welfare of patients is converted into a crypto-scientific dispute about numbers. The result is that doing nothing for the time being becomes the order of the day, justified on the grounds that something (whatever it is) is not clear from the current data and more data/analysis is needed.
I feel it is worth pointing out that acting without good or reliable data is an invitation to trial by gossip and mobbing.