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An overview of the vision and plans for the delivery of a public health surveillance strategy, as part of Public Health England’s broader information strategy, has been published.

The overview:

• sets out the key benefits and challenges in delivering such a strategy
• describes how an integrated public health surveillance system can strengthen surveillance as a component of a broader public health knowledge and intelligence function within the changing organisational context of public health delivery systems
• supports the delivery of an efficient, world-leading service that provides a robust evidence base for decision-making and action-taking in respect to both acute and chronic diseases and health determinants
• acknowledges that surveillance will underpin the protection and improvement of health and service delivery, through outputs that are timely, accurate, accessible and meaningful to users of this information at the local, national and international level.

‘Surveillance’ is defined as providing the right information at the right time and in the right place to inform decision-making and action-taking.

Read Towards a Public Health Surveillance Strategy in England