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:
- Accident and Emergency wait times
- adult social care
- ambulance response times
- healthcare workforce
- obesity prevalence
This information will be updated when new guidance has been published.
We have developed:
These tools help users explore official published health and care statistics across the four UK nations in a single central place.
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.
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
Related
Health and Care
The United Kingdom Health Statistics Steering Group — Workplan (2022 to 2027)
The United Kingdom Statistics Steering Group theme groups
UK health and care statistics interactive tool
Adult Social Care
UK adult social care statistics interactive 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
Driving the change to make health statistics more coherent | Office for Statistics Regulation
Guest Blog: Challenges and Opportunities for Health and Care Statistics | Office for Statistics Regulation
A healthy improvement: helping users find the stats they need on health | Office for Statistics Regulation
Making health statistics more easily accessible | National Statistical