Health Survey for England

The Health Survey for England (HSE) is a statistical survey which is conducted annually in order to collect information concerning health and health-related behaviour of people living in private households in England.

History

The HSE was originally set up in 1991 to provide information about morbidity with the aim of improving the targeting of national health policies. From 1991 to 1994, the survey was conducted by the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys which is now part of the Office for National Statistics (ONS). This changed in 1994 and the survey is now conducted by the Joint Survey Unit of the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) and the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at University College London.

Besides certain core questions that remain unchanged, the focus of the HSE changes every year to a different topic. These boost samples are repeated in appropriate intervals to assure continuity and to monitor change. Since 1991, the following topics have been in the focus of the HSE: