The Health Survey for England series was designed to monitor trends in the nation's health; estimating the proportion of people in England who have specified health conditions, and the prevalence of risk factors and behaviours associated with these conditions. The surveys provide regular information that cannot be obtained from other sources. The surveys have been carried out since 1994 by the Joint Health Surveys Unit of NatCen Social Research and the Research Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at UCL. Each survey in the series includes core questions, e.g. about alcohol and smoking, and measurements (such as blood pressure, height and weight, and analysis of blood and saliva samples), and modules of questions on topics that vary from year to year. The trend tables show data for available years between 1993 and 2016 for adults (defined as age 16 and over) and for children. The survey samples cover the population living in private households in England. In 2016 the sample contained 8,011 adults and 2,056 children and 5,049 adults and 1,117 children had a nurse visit. We would very much like your feedback about whether some proposed changes to the publications would be helpful and if the publications meet your needs. This will help us shape the design of future publications to ensure they remain informative and useful. Please answer our reader feedback survey on Citizen Space which is open until 18 June 2018.

• to provide annual data about the nation’s health;
• to estimate the proportion of people in England with specified health conditions;
• to estimate the prevalence of certain risk factors associated with these conditions;
• to examine differences between population subgroups in their likelihood of having specific conditions or risk factors;
• to assess the frequency with which particular combinations of risk factors are found, and which groups these combinations most commonly occur;
• to monitor progress towards selected health targets
• since 1995, to measure the height of children at different ages, replacing the National Study of Health and Growth;
• since 1995, monitor the prevalence of overweight and obesity in children.

The survey includes a number of core questions every year but also focuses on different health issues at each wave. Topics are revisited at appropriate intervals in order to monitor change.

Further information about the series may be found on the NHS Digital Health Survey for England; health, social care and lifestyles webpage, the NatCen Social Research NatCen Health Survey for England webpage and the University College London Health and Social Surveys Research Group UCL Health Survey for England webpage.

Changes to the HSE from 2015:
Users should note that from 2015 survey onwards, only the individual data file is available under standard End User Licence (EUL). The household data file is now only included in the Special Licence (SL) version, released from 2015 onwards. In addition, the SL individual file contains all the variables included in the HSE EUL dataset, plus others, including variables removed from the EUL version after the NHS Digital disclosure review. The SL HSE is subject to more restrictive access conditions than the EUL version (see Access information). Users are advised to obtain the EUL version to see if it meets their needs before considering an application for the SL version.

COVID-19 and the HSE:
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the HSE 2020 survey was stopped in March 2020 and never re-started. There was no publication that year. The survey resumed in 2021, albeit with an amended methodology. The full HSE resumed in 2022, with an extended fieldwork period. Due to this, the decision was taken not to progress with the 2023 survey, to maximise the 2022 survey response and enable more robust reporting of data. See the NHS Digital Health Survey for England - Health, social care and lifestyles webpage for more details.

The Health Survey for England, 2016: Special Licence Access is available from the UK Data Archive under SN 9084.

Latest edition information:
For the fourth edition (May 2023), a number of corrections were made to the data file and the data documentation file. Further information is available in the documentation file '8334_hse_2016_eul_v5_corrections_to_ukds.pdf'.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The Health Survey for England (HSE) is a series of surveys designed to monitor trends in the nation's health. It was commissioned by NHS Digital and carried out by the Joint Health Surveys Unit of the National Centre for Social Research and the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at University College London.The aims of the HSE series are:to provide annual data about the nation’s health;to estimate the proportion of people in England with specified health conditions;to estimate the prevalence of certain risk factors associated with these conditions;to examine differences between population subgroups in their likelihood of having specific conditions or risk factors;to assess the frequency with which particular combinations of risk factors are found, and which groups these combinations most commonly occur;to monitor progress towards selected health targetssince 1995, to measure the height of children at different ages, replacing the National Study of Health and Growth;since 1995, monitor the prevalence of overweight and obesity in children.The survey includes a number of core questions every year but also focuses on different health issues at each wave. Topics are revisited at appropriate intervals in order to monitor change. Further information about the series may be found on the NHS Digital Health Survey for England; health, social care and lifestyles webpage, the NatCen Social Research NatCen Health Survey for England webpage and the University College London Health and Social Surveys Research Group UCL Health Survey for England webpage. Changes to the HSE from 2015:Users should note that from 2015 survey onwards, only the individual data file is available under standard End User Licence (EUL). The household data file is now only included in the Special Licence (SL) version, released from 2015 onwards. In addition, the SL individual file contains all the variables included in the HSE EUL dataset, plus others, including variables removed from the EUL version after the NHS Digital disclosure review. The SL HSE is subject to more restrictive access conditions than the EUL version (see Access information). Users are advised to obtain the EUL version to see if it meets their needs before considering an application for the SL version. The Health Survey for England, 2016: Special Licence Access is available from the UK Data Archive under SN 9084. Latest edition information: For the fourth edition (May 2023), a number of corrections were made to the data file and the data documentation file. Further information is available in the documentation file '8334_hse_2016_eul_v5_corrections_to_ukds.pdf'. Main Topics: Data collection involved an interview, followed by a visit from a specially trained nurse for all those in the core sample who agreed. The 2016 survey included additional topics for adults on physical activity, weight management, kidney and liver disease and problem gambling. The survey also provided updates on repeated core topics, including general health, long standing illness, smoking and drinking. The nurse visit covered height and weight measurement, blood pressure measurement, waist and hip circumference measurement, taking of blood samples for cholesterol and glycated haemoglobin, and taking of adult and child saliva samples. In 2016, urine samples were also collected from adult participants. Multi-stage stratified random sample Face-to-face interview: Computer-assisted (CAPI/CAMI) Self-administered questionnaire

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The Health Survey for England (HSE) is a series of surveys designed to monitor trends in the nation's health. It was commissioned by NHS Digital and carried out by the Joint Health Surveys Unit of the National Centre for Social Research and the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at University College London.
The aims of the HSE series are:

• to provide annual data about the nation's health;
• to estimate the proportion of people in England with specified health conditions;
• to estimate the prevalence of certain risk factors associated with these conditions;
• to examine differences between population subgroups in their likelihood of having specific conditions or risk factors;
• to assess the frequency with which particular combinations of risk factors are found, and which groups these combinations most commonly occur;
• to monitor progress towards selected health targets
• since 1995, to measure the height of children at different ages, replacing the National Study of Health and Growth;
• since 1995, monitor the prevalence of overweight and obesity in children.

The survey includes a number of core questions every year but also focuses on different health issues at each wave. Topics are revisited at appropriate intervals in order to monitor change.

Further information about the series may be found on the NHS Digital Health Survey for England; health, social care and lifestyles webpage, the NatCen Social Research NatCen Health Survey for England webpage and the University College London Health and Social Surveys Research Group UCL Health Survey for England webpage.

Changes to the HSE from 2015:
Users should note that from 2015 survey onwards, only the individual data file is available under standard End User Licence (EUL). The household data file is now only included in the Special Licence (SL) version, released from 2015 onwards. In addition, the SL individual file contains all the variables included in the HSE EUL dataset, plus others, including variables removed from the EUL version after the NHS Digital disclosure review. The SL version of the dataset contains variables with a higher disclosure risk or are more sensitive than those included in the EUL version and is subject to more restrictive access conditions (see Access information). Users are advised to obtain the EUL version to see if it meets their needs before considering an application for the SL version.

COVID-19 and the HSE:
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the HSE 2020 survey was stopped in March 2020 and never re-started. There was no publication that year. The survey resumed in 2021, albeit with an amended methodology. The full HSE resumed in 2022, with an extended fieldwork period. Due to this, the decision was taken not to progress with the 2023 survey, to maximise the 2022 survey response and enable more robust reporting of data. See the NHS Digital Health Survey for England - Health, social care and lifestyles webpage for more details.

The Health Survey for England, 2016 EUL version is available from the UK Data Archive under SN 8334.

Main Topics:

Data collection involved an interview, followed by a visit from a specially trained nurse for all those in the core sample who agreed.

The 2016 survey included additional topics for adults on physical activity, weight management, kidney and liver disease and problem gambling. The survey also provided updates on repeated core topics, including general health, long standing illness, smoking and drinking.

The nurse visit covered height and weight measurement, blood pressure measurement, waist and hip circumference measurement, taking of blood samples for cholesterol and glycated haemoglobin, and taking of adult and child saliva samples. In 2016, urine samples were also collected from adult participants.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The Gambling in England and Scotland, 2016: Combined Data from the Health Survey for England and the Scottish Health Survey provides nationally representative estimates of gambling participation and problem gambling for England and Scotland, by combining data from the 2016 Health Survey for England (HSE) and the Scottish Health Survey (SHeS).

Users should note that the study report describes some data used from the Wales Omnibus study, but due to differences in the study methodologies, those data are not included in this dataset.

The studies conducted in previous years, 2014 and 2015, are available under SN 7631 respectively SN 8332.

Main Topics:

Gambling behaviour in England and Scotland.

The Scottish Health Survey (SHeS) series was established in 1995. Commissioned by the Scottish Government Health Directorates, the series provides regular information on aspects of the public's health and factors related to health which cannot be obtained from other sources. The SHeS series was designed to:

• estimate the prevalence of particular health conditions in Scotland;
• estimate the prevalence of certain risk factors associated with these health conditions and to document the pattern of related health behaviours;
• look at differences between regions and between subgroups of the population in the extent of their having these particular health conditions or risk factors, and to make comparisons with other national statistics for Scotland and England;
• monitor trends in the population's health over time;
• make a major contribution to monitoring progress towards health targets.

Each survey in the series includes a set of core questions and measurements (height and weight and, if applicable, blood pressure, waist circumference, urine and saliva samples), plus modules of questions on specific health conditions that vary from year to year. Each year the core sample has also been augmented by an additional boosted sample for children. Since 2008 NHS Health Boards have also had the opportunity to boost the number of adult interviews carried out in their area.

The Scottish Government Scottish Health Survey webpages contain further information about the series, including latest news and publications.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The Scottish Health Survey (SHeS) series was established in 1995. Commissioned by the Scottish Government Health Directorates, the series provides regular information on aspects of the public's health and factors related to health which cannot be obtained from other sources. The SHeS series was designed to:

• estimate the prevalence of particular health conditions in Scotland;
• estimate the prevalence of certain risk factors associated with these health conditions and to document the pattern of related health behaviours;
• look at differences between regions and between subgroups of the population in the extent of their having these particular health conditions or risk factors, and to make comparisons with other national statistics for Scotland and England;
• monitor trends in the population's health over time;
• make a major contribution to monitoring progress towards health targets.

Each survey in the series includes a set of core questions and measurements (height and weight and, if applicable, blood pressure, waist circumference, urine and saliva samples), plus modules of questions on specific health conditions that vary from year to year. Each year the core sample has also been augmented by an additional boosted sample for children. Since 2008 NHS Health Boards have also had the opportunity to boost the number of adult interviews carried out in their area.

The Scottish Government Scottish Health Survey webpages contain further information about the series, including latest news and publications.


Main Topics:

The Scottish Health Survey, 2017 was the thirteenth survey in the series. Topics covered included household composition, demographics (including ethnicity, religion, educational background and economic activity), general health including caring, cardiovascular disease, use of health services, respiratory disease and asthma, physical activity, sedentary activity, barriers and motivations to exercise, eating habits, fruit and veg consumption, vitamins and supplements, smoking and drinking, dental health, social capital, discrimination and harassment, stress at work, and a second stage follow-up visit from a survey nurse to collect biological samples and anthropometric measurements.

The study also includes combined datasets covering 2014/15/16/17, 2015/17 and 2016/17. They contain information from the household questionnaires, main individual schedules, self-completions and the biological modules (where applicable). The combined datasets have been provided to give a larger base for analysis of variables from the biological module. The individual year datasets should be used for analysis of individual years, including comparison between years.

Kappa statistics for the agreement between original and frozen HS-CTnT samples in flagging high-risk individuals using different cut-off points, for 199 participants drawn from the Health Survey for England, United Kingdom, in year 2016.

The Health Survey Northern Ireland (HSNI) was commissioned by the Department of Health in Northern Ireland and the Central Survey Unit (CSU) of the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) carried out the survey on their behalf. This survey series has been running on a continuous basis since April 2010 with separate modules for different policy areas included in different financial years. It covers a range of health topics that are important to the lives of people in Northern Ireland. The HSNI replaces the previous Northern Ireland Health and Social Wellbeing Survey (available under SNs 4589, 4590 and 5710).

Adult BMI, height and weight measurements, accompanying demographic and derived variables, geography, and a BMI weighting variable, are available in separate datasets for each survey year.

Further information is available from the https://www.nisra.gov.uk/health-survey-northern-ireland" title="Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency">Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency and the https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/topics/doh-statistics-and-research/health-survey-northern-ireland" title="Department of Health (Northern Ireland)">Department of Health (Northern Ireland) survey webpages.

Data gathered in the HSNI 2015-2016. Variables include measured height and weight, calculated BMI including groupings, age, sex and geography.

The dataset contains self-reported patient-level data for adults with chronic kidney disease (CKD) who are under the care of NHS hospital renal centres in England. The data are collected using a survey called 'Your Health Survey' that includes identifiable information, socio-demographic information, a quality of life measure (EQ5D-5L), symptom measure (POS-S Renal) and patient activation measure (PAM). In 2016–2017 over 3,000 Your Health Surveys were collected by the UKRR as part of the quality improvement project ‘Transforming participation in chronic kidney disease’ and in 2018 ‘Transforming participation 2’ used the surveys to measure a coaching intervention in over 200 patients. See here for further information: https://renal.org/audit-research/data-permissions/data/ukrr-ckd-patient-measures-dataset/pam-and-prom-data

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The National Patient Survey Programme is one of the largest patient survey programmes in the world. It provides an opportunity to monitor experiences of health and provides data to assist with registration of trusts and monitoring on-going compliance. Understanding what people think about the care and treatment they receive is crucial to improving the quality of care being delivered by healthcare organisations. One way of doing this is by asking people who have recently used the health service to tell the Care Quality Commission (CQC) about their experiences.

The CQC will use the results from the surveys in the regulation, monitoring and inspection of NHS acute trusts (or, for community mental health service user surveys, providers of mental health services) in England. Data are used in CQC Insight, an intelligence tool which identifies potential changes in quality of care and then supports deciding on the right regulatory response. Survey data will also be used to support CQC inspections.

Each survey has a different focus. These include patients' experiences in outpatient and accident and emergency departments in Acute Trusts, and the experiences of people using mental health services in the community.

History of the programme

The National Patient Survey Programme began in 2002, and was then conducted by the Commission for Health Improvement (CHI), along with the Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection (CHAI). Administration of the programme was taken over by the Healthcare Commission in time for the 2004 series. On 1 April 2009, the CQC was formed, which replaced the Healthcare Commission.

Further information about the National Patient Survey Programme may be found on the CQC Patient Survey Programme web pages.

The Community Mental Health Service User Survey, 2016 (MH16) was designed to provide actionable feedback to each participating trust on service users' views of the care they had received. The survey covers issues that affect the quality of care that people receive and were identified by people as important to them. Topics covered include: health and social care workers, planning care, reviewing care, crisis care, treatments and other areas of life. The results are primarily intended for use by NHS trusts to help them improve their performance. The results from this survey will be used by the Care Quality Commission in its assessment of NHS mental health trusts in England. Data from the survey will also be included in the data packs for inspections.

In 2014, the Community Mental Health Service User Survey was substantially redeveloped and results from 2014 onwards are not comparable with previous surveys.

Further information may be found on the CQC Community Mental Health Survey, 2016 webpage.


Main Topics:

The survey covered issues that affect the quality of care that service users receive and were identified as important to them. Topics included: care and treatment, health and social care workers, organisation, planning and reviewing of care, changes in care personnel, crisis care, treatments, support and well-being, overall experience and demographic details.

Some edits have been made by the depositor for confidentiality and data protection reasons. Some variables have been removed and others recoded accordingly.

This statistic displays the results of a survey on data that patients with electronic health records find most helpful to health management in England in 2016. Patients find their prescription medication history most helpful to health management at 26 percent, followed by physician notes from visits/conditions at 22 percent.

This statistic displays the results of a survey on the distribution of physical activity level among adults in England in 2016, by age group. In this year, it was found that 69 percent of respondents aged 16 to 24 met the aerobic guidelines compared to 30 percent of respondents aged 75 and over.

This statistic displays the leading three health ambitions in the United Kingdom (UK) according to a survey conducted in 2016. The leading health ambition among respondents in the UK is to lose weight/ improve body mass index (BMI).

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The National Patient Survey Programme is one of the largest patient survey programmes in the world. It provides an opportunity to monitor experiences of health and provides data to assist with registration of trusts and monitoring on-going compliance. Understanding what people think about the care and treatment they receive is crucial to improving the quality of care being delivered by healthcare organisations. One way of doing this is by asking people who have recently used the health service to tell the Care Quality Commission (CQC) about their experiences. The CQC will use the results from the surveys in the regulation, monitoring and inspection of NHS acute trusts (or, for community mental health service user surveys, providers of mental health services) in England. Data are used in CQC Insight, an intelligence tool which identifies potential changes in quality of care and then supports deciding on the right regulatory response. Survey data will also be used to support CQC inspections. Each survey has a different focus. These include patients' experiences in outpatient and accident and emergency departments in Acute Trusts, and the experiences of people using mental health services in the community. History of the programme The National Patient Survey Programme began in 2002, and was then conducted by the Commission for Health Improvement (CHI), along with the Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection (CHAI). Administration of the programme was taken over by the Healthcare Commission in time for the 2004 series. On 1 April 2009, the CQC was formed, which replaced the Healthcare Commission. Further information about the National Patient Survey Programme may be found on the CQC Patient Survey Programme web pages. The Acute Trusts: Adult Inpatients Survey, 2016 was designed to provide actionable feedback to each participating NHS trust on patients' views of the care they had received as inpatients in England. Results are used by CQC in a range of ways, including the assessment of NHS performance as well as in regulatory activities such as registration, monitoring on-going compliance and reviews. Main Topics: The questionnaire covered issues that affect the quality of care that patients receive and were identified by patients as important to them. Topics include:admission to hospital and types of admissionsthe hospital and wardrelationships with healthcare professionalscare and treatmentpainoperations and proceduresdischarge Purposive selection/case studies

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The National Cancer Patient Experience Surveys (NCPES) began in 2010, after the 2007 'Cancer Reform Strategy' set out a commitment to establish a new survey programme. The NCPES is intended to be a vehicle enabling and supporting quality improvement in the NHS and has been used by national bodies, NHS Hospitals, specialist cancer teams, and national and condition specific charities to improve services for patients. It is designed to monitor national progress on cancer care and to help gather vital information on the Transforming Inpatient Care Programme, the National Cancer Survivorship Initiative and the National Cancer Equality Initiative. An Advisory Group was set up for the NCPES with the National Cancer Director, professionals, voluntary sector representatives, academics and patient survey experts. The Group agreed on the following guiding principles and objectives:

• a standard national survey tool was to be used
• surveys would be conducted at Trust level and identify cancer groups
• the survey would cover all cancers and include the whole care pathway
• the survey should use the word 'cancer' unlike the 2000 and 2004 surveys
• the survey focus would be on patients (rather than carers)
• the data would be used for benchmarking performance across Trusts and by cancer groups where numbers allow
• the data would be used to inform national and local policy
• the data would be made publicly available whilst observing patient data protection requirements and maintaining confidentiality.

The survey is intended to be a vehicle enabling and supporting quality improvement in the NHS and has been used by national bodies, NHS Hospitals, specialist cancer teams, and national and condition specific charities to improve services for patients.

The NCPES has been replicated in Wales (see SN 7510), Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, parts of Australia, and the Middle East. Further information can be found on the Quality Health Limited National Cancer Patient Experience Survey webpage and the NHS England Cancer Patient Experience Survey webpage.

2010-2015 surveys temporarily withdrawn
The data for the 2010-2014 surveys were temporarily withdrawn at the request of the depositor in October 2015. The 2015 data (SN 8163 and the Special Licence version, SN 8164) were temporarily withdrawn at the request of the depositor in February 2020.


2016 survey:
The purposes of the Cancer Patient Experience Survey 2016 were: