Introduction

NHS England has committed, in the 10 Year Health Plan, to making the NHS the most transparent healthcare system in the world. We will create new, easier ways for people to see and use summary NHS data, indicators and measures. At the same time, we will review our existing statistics, dashboards and management reports. This will include looking at what we publish, how often we publish it, and how useful it is to users. NHS England currently publishes more than 200 different sets of reports (Statistical publications and dashboards – NHS England public data gateway). As the organisation becomes smaller and moves into the new Department of Health and Social Care, we will reduce this number and bring the most important measures together in one place.

This consultation covers suggested reductions to selected statistical and management information outputs that we are proposing to enact over the forthcoming months. In assembling these proposals we have considered known users, usage statistics for the outputs, and availability of similar information elsewhere. In some instances, we have identified more timely sources of data and are looking to remove duplication. Alongside this we have considered availability of people to work on them and the relative impact and priority of these compared with other outputs they would be working on.

This consultation is not exhaustive and as the size of NHS England continues to reduce, further consultations, guided by the same principles, are possible.

The proposals put forward within this consultation have been worked through with statistical publication and policy leads. They set out possible changes to products, including:

• products merging
• products changing in frequency
• products changing in scope and/or volume
• products pausing or stopping

Decisions will be made through consideration of consultation responses in combination with wider factors, including around data quality and availability, and technical and resourcing constraints.

All types of users are encouraged to respond to this consultation – whether in academia, government, the local or national healthcare system or industry, or as interested members of the public. We are interested in understanding both the user needs of individuals and groups that we may not typically frequently engage with, and our regular users.

Code of practice for statistics

This consultation has been put together by lead statisticians in NHS England and is driven by the principles set out in the Code of Practice for Statistics.

This consultation seeks user feedback on statistical products in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics, to ensure that changes and improvements made to the statistical landscape provide the greatest possible value to users and make the best use of resources. The Code of Practice for Statistics and the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 both set out that statistics-producing organisations should consult users on changes to statistical products.

Legal duties

The general equality duty that is set out in the Equality Act 2010 requires public authorities, in the exercise of their functions, to have due regard to the need to:

• eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other conduct prohibited by the act
• advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not
• foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not

The proposals relate to the public reporting of data and statistics, rather than to any changes to the actual provision of health and social care services to patients.

As part of the decision process for the future of statistical products following the outcome of this consultation, due consideration will be given to the public sector equality duty and any related impact of changes to statistics on the availability of statistics for protected groups.

How to respond

NHS England invites responses on these proposals and any wider feedback.

The consultation is open for 8 weeks.

We expect to publish a high-level summary response to this consultation.

Proposals

When responding to these proposals, please make it clear to which publication(s) you are referring to. For each publication you want to respond to, we ask the following question:

Do these changes result in any large impact to you and if so, please describe the impact.

Where there are questions specific to a publication, these will be included with the specific proposals for the publication.

Our National Disease Registration Service (NDRS) publishes a large range of cancer data, analysis and dashboards covering registration, prevalence, diagnosis, treatments and outcomes, all currently available here: National Disease Registration Service – NDRS. Of the many cancer outputs produced by NDRS, 27 are categorised as statistical publications, of which 10 are listed here. The remaining outputs are not affected by this consultation. In addition, the underlying data collection and curation undertaken by NDRS will continue. We are seeking feedback only on the specific publications listed below.

List of publications and proposals

30-day mortality post SACT

• 30-day mortality post-Systemic Anti-Cancer Therapy – Case-Mix Adjusted Rates – NDRS

We propose stopping the production of this output.

This publication is not produced as part of a regular series and the last output was published in December 2024.

Unadjusted 30-day mortality post SACT is available to NHS colleagues via the specialised services quality dashboards (SSQD) reporting hub NHS commissioning » Specialised services quality dashboards.

BRCA testing after a diagnosis of cancer

• BRCA testing after a diagnosis of cancer – NDRS

We propose stopping the production of this dashboard.

This dashboard has low web usage figures. We are reviewing reporting related to cancer genomics in line with the national cancer plan,

We are currently developing reporting for the National Inherited Cancer Predisposition Register which will include BRCA.

Cancer registration statistics, England

• Cancer registrations statistics, England – NHS England Digital

We propose the removal of the mortality aspect of this series.

Presentation of mortality related to cancer is duplicated in ONS official statistics Deaths registered in England and Wales – Office for National Statistics. The same granular data as displayed in the cancer registration official statistics are available at Mortality statistics – underlying cause, sex and age – Nomis – Official Census and Labour Market Statistics

Cancer services profiles

• Cancer Services Profiles – NHS England Digital

We propose stopping the production of this series.

This publication has low web usage figures.

Case-mix adjusted percentage of cancers diagnosed at stages 1 and 2 in England

• Case-mix Adjusted Percentage of Cancers Diagnosed at Stages 1 and 2 in England – NHS England Digital

We propose stopping the production of this series.

This publication has low web usage figures and alternative sources of information on stage at diagnosis are available at Cancer data interactive dashboards – NDRS. Further work on early diagnosis measures will be developed in line with the national cancer plan.

COVID-19 hospital activity

• Statistics » COVID-19 Hospital Activity

We propose stopping the production of this series. The data included in this series will be made available in the Weekly Winter publication alongside flu beds.

This is a legacy publication with reduced interest as covid-19 has moved from an acute phase to being endemic.

Ethnic Category Coverage

• [MI] Ethnic Category Coverage – NHS England Digital

We propose stopping the production of this series.

This publication has been on pause since April 2024.

Completeness of ethnicity coding for selected datasets forms part of the Data Quality Maturity Index (DQMI).

Fit notes in general practice

• Fit Notes Issued by GP Practices – NHS England Digital

We propose reducing the frequency of publication from Quarterly to twice-yearly.

GP Patient Survey Dental Statistics

• Statistics » GP Patient Survey dental statistics

We propose stopping the production of this series.

This publication has low web usage figures.

Independent healthcare provider workforce statistics

• Independent Healthcare Provider Workforce Statistics – NHS England Digital

We propose stopping the production of this series.

This publication has been on pause since September 2022. The data collection system would need a significant technology upgrade, and the quality and completeness of the data were not sufficient to provide a meaningful picture. The level of resource needed to improve this sufficiently would be significant and are assigned to higher priority work.

NHS Maternity Statistics Annual Publication

• NHS Maternity Statistics – NHS England Digital

Initial stakeholder feedback has indicated support for simplifying maternity reporting to reduce the potential for confusion caused by publishing similar metrics through multiple outputs using different methodologies. This feedback highlights the value of directing users to a single, timely and consistent source of information, while ensuring that the underlying data and dashboards remain available. Stakeholders also noted the continuing value of the long-term Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) time series included within the annual publication.

Considering this feedback, we propose that the NHS Maternity Statistics 2025–26:

• be reduced in scope and focus on the content derived from HES data. These components are not published elsewhere and continue to provide unique analytical value
• no longer include content derived from the Maternity Services Data Set (MSDS). All MSDS-based metrics would continue to be published through the Maternity Services Monthly Statistics series, providing a timely and consistent source of information
• be accompanied by a review of methodologies and user requirements to inform the future development of maternity reporting across our products and ensure that they remain relevant, proportionate and aligned with user needs.

National obesity audit

• [MI] National Obesity Audit – NHS England Digital

We propose reducing the frequency of this series from quarterly to annual.

This publication has low web usage figures.

NHS surplus land

• NHS Surplus Land – NHS England Digital

We propose stopping the production of this series.

This publication has very low usage and the collection is being paused.

Non primary cancer by trust

• Non Primary Cancers including recurrences by Trust – NDRS

We propose stopping the production of this series.

We are developing a new output in line with the national cancer plan commitmenton reporting data on recurrent cancers, beginning with reporting on metastatic breast cancer.

Radiotherapy dose and fractionation dashboard

• Radiotherapy dose and fractionation – NDRS

We propose reducing the frequency of this series from quarterly to annual.

• Radiotherapy dose and fractionation dashboard, January 2026 update – NHS England Digital

We propose reducing the frequency of this series from quarterly to annual.

The data will still be presented at monthly intervals.

Radiotherapy operational delivery networks national overview report

• ODN reports – NDRS

We propose reducing the frequency of this series from 6-monthly to annual.

SACT activity dashboard

• SACT activity dashboard – NDRS 
• SACT Activity Dashboard, January 2026 update – NHS England Digital

We propose reducing the frequency of this series from monthly quarterly to annual. The data will still be presented at monthly intervals.

Using RCRD to measure ED technical document

• Using RCRD and staging data – NDRS

We propose reducing the frequency of this reporting from quarterly to 6 monthly.

Smoking, drinking and drug use among young people in England

• Smoking, drinking and drug use among young people in England – NHS England Digital

For Smoking, drinking and drug use among young people in England we ask the following additional questions:

Is there any material from non-green sections that needs to be kept?

Is there anything from the new questions that should be prioritised for reporting?

Smoking, drinking and drug use among young people in England, 2023 summary and usage stats for October 2024 to October 2025

We propose to keep the key facts, survey methodology and all the following sections:

• Overview
• Introduction
• Part 1: Smoking prevalence and cigarette consumption
• Part 4: Electronic cigarette use (vaping)
• Part 5: Alcohol drinking prevalence and consumption
• Part 8: Drug use prevalence and consumption

For these sections we will include all the Excel tables, update any Excel data tables (as a result of changes to questions and routing) and provide the relevant charts and commentary.

For the remaining sections, we will provide the Excel tables, update any Excel data tables (as a result of changes to questions and routing) but not include any charts or commentary. Some key findings from these sections that are important to keep would be merged into another related section.

There are 22 new questions in the 2025 survey around alcohol free drinks, being pressured into risky behaviours, what stops young people from partaking in such behaviours, and some specific questions around cannabis use. There are also some questions around school lessons that cover such risky behaviours. We don’t have capacity to include all the new content in the SDD 2025 report although all data will be available in the full dataset.

We propose including only Excel tables for any new content, no charts or commentary. We shall do some initial exploratory analysis to check where there are clear insights from the new questions and report on these.

Table of web usage statistics

For reference: average 1-month views across entire publications catalogue is 725.