When we “link” different datasets together at the Office for National Statistics (ONS), from other government departments or public services, we can uncover powerful stories about our society that individual datasets can’t tell us.
On its own, health data enables us to create statistics on how long people might live, where there is health inequality, or about people’s access to healthcare systems.
But when we link health data with non-health data — such as earnings and social security — we can discover rich insights. For example, we can tell how likely people might be to return to work or increase their income after having a treatment through the NHS.
In our next ‘Bringing data to life’ event, we’ll explore how we can link different datasets to unlock their full potential, enabling faster and more informed decision and policymaking, and ultimately helping to improve people's lives. Data security and ethics are at the heart of our work, and we know that people have concerns about data misuse, privacy and government influence, so we’ll also explain how we link data in a way that protects the personal information of individuals and businesses and provides public benefit.
Plus, we’ll be joined by a guest speaker from Endometriosis UK, who will share how linking health and wealth data helps to understand the economic impacts of endometriosis on people's lives.
Whether you’re part of a local organisation, a curious citizen, or just want to understand more about how we work with data, this webinar will help you make sense of data linkage, how it’s being used to uncover links between people’s health and non-health data, and the steps we take to keep your data secure.
We will be using Slido during this event.
To learn more about this topic ahead of the event, watch our short video on admin and linked data, or read our recent report on people’s attitudes to sharing public data on the ONS website.
