The full health and care data strategy must address its shortcomings

The full health and care data strategy must address its shortcomings On 22 June, NHSX published their draft data strategy for health and social care. This strategy could not have come at a more crucial time. Population health was already suffering before the pandemic, through stalled improvements in life expectancy and widening health inequalities. Now the NHS faces renewed and unprecedented pressure, with a growing backlog of care (4 million fewer people completed elective care in 2020 than in 2019), and the long-term health burden of the pandemic still unknown. The Health Foundation