Health and care statistics
The United Kingdom Health Statistics Steering Group (UKHSSG), formerly the English Health Statistics Steering Group (EHSSG), was formed in 2016, following a systematic review of health and care statistics for England by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) in 2015. The review found that before, it was not always possible to get coherent, accessible information about health and care statistics. The change in the steering group name reflects new priorities to address UK coherence within health statistics.
Several important statistical suppliers are members of this group. There are members from:
- Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) including the Office for Health Improvements and Disparities (OHID)
- NHS Business Services Authority
- NHS England (NHSE)
- Office for National Statistics (ONS)
- UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA)
- Welsh Government
- Public Health Scotland
- Department of Health (Northern Ireland)
In March 2018 the OSR gave the UKHSSG the responsibility to improve the coherence and accessibility of health and social care statistics. It was agreed that the group would work hard to improve health and care statistics.
We have a responsibility to improve coherence and accessibility of health and care statistics in England and across the devolved nations. Our objectives are to:
- remove duplication of statistical releases
- harmonise methodology and definitions
- increase user engagement
- align publication dates
- improve accessibility of statistics
We updated our work plan for 2022 to 2027 following the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. This work plan will be regularly updated to with information about new challenges and developments.
We have also set up several UK Health Statistics theme groups. The groups cover all areas of the health and care statistics system. They are chaired by a lead statistical producer organisation with other official statistics producers as members. The theme groups are also expanding to include membership from across the four nations where there is enough resource to do so. The UKHSSG is concentrating on improving the coherence of statistics across the UK coherence as a priority.
Health and care statistics provide important information about:
- trends in the population
- patterns of medical conditions and the need for healthcare
- the activity and effectiveness of health services – this includes information about the numbers of patients treated
By publishing this information, we can help people to:
- understand the workloads of different services
- study trends in demand and supply
- compare the quality of health care services and how well they are working in different areas and organisations
Health and care statistics are widely used to:
- plan services at national and local levels
- develop government policy on major topics, such as pensions
- allocate local government and NHS funding according to need
- measure changes over time
- measure differences between geographical areas and social groups
These data sources contribute to scientific knowledge about population health. This is known as epidemiology. The data sources also contribute to scientific knowledge about wellbeing and provide evidence for many types of medical research.
We have developed this interactive tool to give links to all important official health and care statistics in a single central place. It will help all users find relevant statistics and information on specific health topics and cross-cutting themes. It also hosts the COVID-19 Question Bank.
The COVID-19 Question Bank provides a list of questions from many Office for National Statistics (ONS) surveys related to COVID-19. These questions should be used in other surveys to support harmonisation and questionnaire development. The Question Bank also gives users an understanding of what data ONS have about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic
We want your feedback
We welcome your opinions and feedback on the content, structure, presentation and usefulness of this tool. It will continue to be developed.
To provide feedback contact us at GSS.Health@ons.gov.uk.
The ONS produces a monthly health and social care newsletter which brings together official statistics and insight from across the GSS. To subscribe and get future updates about health and care please join the mailing list.
Last Updated: May 2023
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