ONS Health Index Our response to the Office for National Statistics consultation on the ‘beta’ version of the Health Index

The Health Foundation welcomes the introduction of the experimental Health Index and is pleased to have supported its development through the project’s External Advisory Group. The creation of the ONS Health Index marks an important step towards repositioning health as one of the nation’s primary assets. 

Our response to this consultation explains how the Health Index is an important opportunity to present the nation’s health as a key measure of success, and we outline how the Index should become an embedded tool to support policymaking in both national and local government. We also describe how the Index should be viewed as one component in a series of measures needed to create better health.

As part of the Health Foundation’s consultation response, we held a series of roundtables, alongside the Royal Society for Public Health, to discuss the ONS Health Index. These were attended by representatives from across the voluntary and community sector, local government and Whitehall. Their feedback informed our consultation response and we have included a summary of discussions as an appendix.