Winter pressures data: where are the blind spots?

Winter pressures data: where are the blind spots? Numbers don’t lie – but do they really tell the full story? So far, our winter pressures blog series has looked at what the available data tell us about NHS performance. NHS England publishes monthly performance reports all year round, but since the winter of 2010/11 additional winter monitoring data are also available. Between December and February, acute trusts provide daily updates, and the collated results are published every Thursday. These weekly ‘sitreps’ help provide transparency and, together with weekly flu stats from Public Health England, often drive media headlines. These statistics give us a snapshot, but not the full picture. In this blog, we consider areas where having more or different data might give us a more holistic overview of the impact of winter on health and social care. The Health Foundation