Experts warn future of Health Survey for England remains uncertain

Public health experts have expressed their concerns over the arising situation regarding the future of "vital" health survey.

This marks a major move after the government said it would not be run by National Health Service (NHS) England.

Primarily, it was launched in 1991, and the annual data suggests the 8000 adults, 2000 children across the country. The data was collected through the questionnaires and interviews.

The data was collected based on the certain aspects ranging from the health metrics such as height, smoking, alcoholic usage.

However, the public experts described it as an “arterial” source of data due to its high quality.

According to the UK Data Service in July, the government shed light on its performance for 2025 edition as stating, “NHS England will not be prioritizing population health surveys in its long-term strategic plan.”

The data which was received from the survey shows that it will be no longer run by NHS England. Meanwhile, government is exploring alternate solutions to get the desired results. It is still in the process of collecting the same information.

Veena Raleigh, a senior fellow at the King’s Fund, said, “Survey was an arterial source of information on the health of our population.”

Keeping in view the rising number of diseases, the desired results will play a pivotal role in shaping the entire health services. It will ultimately help to monitor health services across England and made decisions to reduce diseases like blood pressure, smoking and obesity.

Professor Kamila Hawthorne, chairperson of the Royal College of GPs, further explained, “Surveys would need to be replaced with something similar, generating the vital information that organizations across healthcare need to monitor changes in public health.”

In addition, the spokesperson of department further stated, “The Health Survey for England is not being stood down. We are working closely with NHS England and the Office for National Statistics to explore alternative improved approaches.”

It is pertinent to note that data collection marks a vital step to access the health of population and findings means to provide suitable solutions.