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. 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 COVID-19 pandemic. This work plan will be regularly updated with information about new challenges and developments.

We have set up several UK Health Statistics theme groups which cover all areas of the health and care statistics system. The theme groups include members from all the main producers of official health statistics for England and the groups are also expanding to include membership from across the four nations where there is enough resource to do so. Where appropriate we have also included major data users, such as those developing government policy on health.

Guidance has been created for the following health topic areas to provide information about the comparability of data across the four nations:

This information will be updated when new guidance has been published.

We have developed:

These tools give links to all important official health and care statistics in a single central place. They will help all users find relevant statistics and information on specific health topics and cross-cutting themes.

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.

Last Updated: March 2024

Health and Care

The United Kingdom Health Statistics Steering Group — Workplan (2022 to 2027)

The United Kingdom Statistics Steering Group theme groups

Interactive health and care statistics Landscape tool

Adult Social Care

Adult Social Care pages

Interactive UK Adult Social Care Statistics Landscape tool

Blogs

Bringing together UK health statistics | National Statistical

Creating a coherent picture of health in the UK | National Statistical

Chief Statistician’s update: comparing NHS performance statistics across the UK | Digital and Data Blog