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Informing Healthier Choices: Information and intelligence for healthy populations

One of the commitments given in the Choosing Health white paper was to develop and implement a comprehensive public health information and intelligence strategy. This work was led by a specially constituted Task Force and informed by extensive public and professional consultation conducted in 2006.

The resulting strategy sets out an approach that will strengthen health information and intelligence resources across England.  This includes supporting and developing the skilled information workforce in NHS and Local Government organisations.  It also provides a framework to integrate the work of different agencies with a role in this field and to guide the development of innovative information systems where these are needed.  As well as necessary attention to processes and infrastructure, the strategy aims to improve the availability of basic data and knowledge to support Choosing Health objectives.