GUIDANCE FOR THE PRESENTATION OF GOVERNMENT STATISTICS FOR HEALTH AREAS AT REGIONAL, HEALTH AUTHORITY/HEALTH BOARD AND PRIMARY CARE LEVELS AS AT 1 OCTOBER 2008

1. Introduction
2. Order of presentation of statistics
3. Table headings, footnotes and sub-totals for tables of regional statistics
4. Nomenclature and definitions
5. Primary care areas in England split between strategic health authorities
6. Primary care areas in Scotland split between health boards
7. Practical presentation
8. Area codes
9. Other Guidance

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Overview

This Guidance Note, endorsed by the GSS Regional and Geography Group (GSSRG), sets out the recommended standard presentation of statistics for health areas at regional, health authority/board and primary care levels¹ in the United Kingdom.

The recommended presentation is for use in publications (paper and electronic) and also health statistics disseminated on the Web. It should be adopted unless there are valid reasons for not doing so, such as ranking areas according to a significant data item.

This Guidance Note is a revised version of the guidance published in October 2006. It has been updated to reflect the introduction of Community Health Partnerships (CHPs) in Scotland, minor changes to Primary Care Organisations in England and amendments to the codes used for countries.

A summary of the changes since the publication of the last version of the Guidance Note is provided in Annex A.

¹ Strategic Health Authorities in England, Local Health Boards in Wales, Health Boards in Scotland, and Health and Social Services Boards in Northern Ireland. Primary Care Organisations comprise Primary Care Trusts and Care Trusts in England and CHPs in Scotland. Primary care in Wales and Northern Ireland is the responsibility of the Local Health Boards and the Health and Social Services Boards respectively.

1.2 Dissemination, display and layout of statistics

In preparing statistical tables, it is recommended that the guidance for display and layout in ‘Plain Figures’ (Second Edition) (HMSO: ISBN 0-11-702039-7) is followed, for both electronic and paper dissemination. Particularly relevant are Chapters 2 (what information to include, how to guide the reader, table orientation, choice of categories to display, accuracy, definitions, and footnotes to tables), 3 (structure and style of tables), and 5 (reference tables).

1.3 Annexes

There are three annexes attached to this Guidance Note:

• Annex A shows the changes to health area administration since the last Guidance Note was published;
• Annex B shows the presentation order of all current UK health areas down to health authority/board level; and
• Annex C shows the presentation order for all health areas down to primary care level, but note that primary care areas only exist in England and Scotland.

2 ORDER OF PRESENTATION OF STATISTICS

2.1 General principles

Countries within the United Kingdom

The order of the countries follows a standard geographically based order.

Health areas within England, Scotland and Northern Ireland

The general principle is that whenever health areas are presented in groupings in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland the order of presentation is alphabetic. The Department of Health, the Scottish Executive/Scottish Home and Health Department and the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety Northern Ireland have agreed this principle.

An exception is the order of the SHAs in England where a standard geographically based, north-south order is well-established (see Section 2.2).

Local Health Boards within Wales

In Wales, the recommended ordering is geographical on a north-south basis as preferred by the National Assembly for Wales and Health Solutions Wales.

Primary Care Organisations in England that straddle Strategic Health Authority boundaries

Currently there are four confirmed Primary Care Organisations that fall in two SHAs. Details are provided in Section 5. Statistics for each of these Primary Care Organisations should only be presented under the Strategic Health Authority (SHA) to which it reports. This approach is supported by the Department of Health. It should be noted that prior to the February 2004 version of this Guidance Note, PCTs were listed under both of the SHAs in which they fall.

Maps

Maps are recommended to show the spatial relationship of health areas within higher level groupings².

²ONS Geography is able to provide support and guidance on the preparation of maps - see section 9

2.2 Order of presentation for countries and regions

The standard ordering of regional sub-divisions of England for the presentation of statistics for health areas follows the standard for presenting statistics for Government Office Regions (GORs). The standard order of presentations for the countries of the UK, and the GORs within England, as agreed by the former Government Statistical Service Committee on Regional Statistics (GSS(R)), is given below. It is broadly a geographically based, north-south ordering, starting with North East.

After the restructuring of health areas of England in 2006, 10 Strategic Health Authorities (SHAs) exist across nine GORs; all SHA boundaries are co-terminous with the boundaries of the GOR in which they reside except for South East GOR. This GOR is split between South East Coast SHA and South Central SHA. Consequently, it was considered acceptable, in this presentation guidance, to list the 10 SHAs of England as the next geographic level down from Country.

• United Kingdom
• Great Britain (optional sub-total)
• England and Wales (optional sub-total)
• England
• North East
• North West
• Yorkshire and the Humber³
• East Midlands
• West Midlands
• East of England
• London
• South East Coast
• South Central
• South West
• Wales
• Scotland
• Northern Ireland

³ Note that the equivalent GOR name has an upper case 'T' in 'The'.

3. TABLE HEADINGS, FOOTNOTES AND SUB-TOTALS FOR TABLES OF REGIONAL STATISTICS

The recommended heading for tables containing statistics down to health authority/board level is ‘UK by countries, and health authorities/boards’. The recommended heading for tables down to primary care level is 'UK by countries, health authorities/boards, and Primary Care Organisations (within England and Scotland)’. Sub-totals for Great Britain/England and Wales are optional, as noted on the list in Section 2.2. Information on name changes and health area reorganisations, which can occur over time, can be included in footnotes but these should be kept to a minimum.

4. NOMENCLATURE AND DEFINITIONS

The list of SHAs in England in Annexes B and C are those shown in the Schedule to The Strategic Health Authorities (Establishment and Abolition) (England) Order 2006 (SI 2006 No.1408). The Primary Care Organisations in England listed in Annex C are those shown in the various Statutory Instruments published between 2000 and 2008 which implement the organisations. The use of statutory names for SHAs and Primary Care Organisations leads to inconsistencies as both ampersands and “and” are in use (e.g. ‘County Durham and Tees Valley SHA’; ‘Northumberland, Tyne & Wear SHA’).

Local Health Boards in Wales were created by The Local Health Boards (Establishment) (Wales) Order 2003 (SI 2003 No.148) but some names have been changed since. The Local Health Boards in Wales are co-terminous with the Unitary Authorities but there are currently five naming differences:

The names in the Scottish list are those preferred by the Scottish Executive/Scottish Home and Health Department for inclusion in publications and include the use of ampersands, rather than ‘and’, in three health board names. The Standard Names and Coding list maintained by ONS contains the statutory Scottish health board names.

Community Health Partnerships were established in April 2006 to manage a wide range of local health services in Scotland; there are currently forty CHPs that report to the Health Boards (HBs). The CHPs include seven Community Health and Care Partnerships (CHCPs) and one Community Health and Social Care Partnership which are also responsible for delivering local social work services.

The Health & Social Services Boards in Northern Ireland remain current but as part of the wider Health and Social Services reform Local Health and Social Care Groups ceased to exist from 30 September 2006.

Name changes and geographical changes affecting the presentation order will be notified through the GSSRG network. This Guidance Note will be maintained to reflect the position.

5. PRIMARY CARE AREAS IN ENGLAND SPLIT BETWEEN STRATEGIC HEALTH AUTHORITIES

There are currently four confirmed Primary Care Organisations split between SHAs:

Tameside and Glossop PCT is the only split that has ministerial approval. The splits of the remaining three PCTs result from the Statutory Instruments that promulgated the Primary Care Organisations.

These PCTs should only be presented under the SHAs to which they report. Explanatory footnotes should be provided for the individual PCTs and also for the SHAs (non-reporting) where they do not appear. The ordering, together with the appropriate footnotes, is shown in Annex C.

6. PRIMARY CARE AREAS IN SCOTLAND SPLIT BETWEEN HEALTH BOARDS

There are currently two confirmed Community Health Partnerships (CHPs) split between Health Boards:

These CHPs should only be presented under the HBs to which they report. Explanatory footnotes should be provided for the individual CHPs and also for the HBs (non-reporting) where they do not appear. The ordering, together with the appropriate footnotes, is shown in Annex C.

7. PRACTICAL PRESENTATION

The presentation rules used to draw up the annexes were changed in the February 2004 version of the Guidance Note. The changes were prompted by the increasing trend towards presentation of statistics in electronic format using software which automatically sorts data. Users requested that the presentation order reflects the automatic ordering to ensure consistency between data presented in electronic and more traditional outputs.

Consequently, health area names comprising more than one word are ordered on the basis of the individual words in the name. This principle is also being used in the Guidance Notes on the presentation of statistics for administrative and electoral areas. The ordering of the following two PCTs (taken from Annex C) illustrates the presentation order:

8. AREA CODES

It is recommended that the appropriate area codes are presented when disseminating tables electronically. The inclusion of area codes with tables disseminated on paper is currently optional.

The area codes provided in the annexes are the standard codes used by the Office for National Statistics. Further information on standard naming and coding can be found on the
National Statistics website.

A review of the existing coding frame used for all statistical geographies (including those for health areas) has been undertaken. Once new codes are introduced, this Guidance Note will be revised to reflect the changes.

9. OTHER GUIDANCE

If further guidance or support is required on any aspect of the presentation order for statistics, including the presentation of statistics for other geographies, please contact ONS Geography.

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This page last revised: Thursday, 11 December 2008