National Study of Health and Wellbeing

The National Study of Health and Wellbeing, also known as the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey (APMS), runs every 7 years. Since 1993, it's been finding out how everyday stresses, strains and joys affect the health of people living in England.

The 2023/4 survey is the 5th in this series of surveys and interviewed adults aged 16 and over from across England. The survey findings are being used to inform and improve local and national planning for health and support services.

Data from this survey helps doctors and other health professionals get a clearer picture of the nation's health and wellbeing. It gives them the information to make the right choices for the future. The survey findings provide detailed information and analyses on the prevalence of both treated and untreated psychiatric disorders in the adult population (aged 16 and over).

Organisations using the survey data include central government departments and local government, as well as researchers and third-sector organisations. Data is used in policy development, in planning services and in monitoring trends and changes in the nation's health and wellbeing.

Examples of how data from the survey has been used include:

• informing the development of the government's 'No Health Without Mental Health' mental health strategy
• development of the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme
• informing national policy, including the National Suicide Prevention Strategy and the Department of Health's responding effectively to violence and abuse and approach to autism policies

The 2023/4 survey was carried out by NatCen Social Research and the University of Leicester on behalf of NHS England. It is funded by the Department of Health and Social Care.

The Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey has a steering group which has steered the design, development, implementation, and delivery of the survey.

The surveys are reviewed by an independent group of people called a Research Ethics Committee, to protect the safety, rights, wellbeing and dignity of those taking part.

For 2023/4, ethical approval for phase one was obtained from NatCen’s internal Research Ethics Committee (1 November 2022), phase two from University of Leicester Medicine and Biological Sciences Research Ethics Committee (29 June 2022), and the clinical eating disorders comparison study from the NHS Health Research Authority (18 April 2023). 

For the 2023/4 survey, participants were chosen by selecting addresses in England at random, which meant that every address in England had an equal chance of being included in the survey. One person, 16 years of age or older, from each address was randomly selected to take part. This ensures that we get a truly representative picture of everyone living in England.

Nearly 7,000 participants completed phase one of the survey, most through a face-to-face interview with a NatCen interviewer. A remote telephone interview was offered if a participant was not able to have a face-to-face visit. A small proportion of these participants were invited to a phase two interview with a clinically trained interviewer coordinated by the University of Leicester. 

All answers are completely confidential and the findings do not identify anyone who took part in the survey. 

The answers to the questionnaire from thousands of people across England were combined. Anything that could identify individuals, such as name, address and date of birth were removed, and the survey findings published as part of the APMS publication series.

The survey includes information on:

• wellbeing
• disability
• physical health
• pain
• lifestyle behaviours
• work and stress
• life events 

Data collected by the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey is held by NatCen Social Research and NHS England.

The anonymised Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey datasets can be accessed via the UK Data Service. They have been carefully created following Government Statistical Service disclosure control guidance, removing any information that might identify individuals. Strict measures are in place regarding who can access the data and users will need to agree to the licence conditions about use. Researchers interested in accessing the datasets will need to register with UK Data Service in the first instance. Use of the data requires approval from the data owner, or their nominee, and researchers must apply for access via a Special Licence application.

View the latest APMS dataset (2023/4) on the UK Data Service website.

The APMS publication series includes links to the latest report (2023/4) and all previous APMS reports published by NHS England.

The report from the 2000 survey is available in the Office for National Statistics archive.

The autism findings for 2023/24 were withdrawn on 18 May 2026 and following further quality assurance of the survey data revised findings were published by NHS England on 8 October 2026.

A user consultation took place in 2021 for the context of the next National Study of Health and Wellbeing and the results have now been published. 

The consultation builds on a previous one carried out by NHS Digital in 2016. The findings were published in our survey consultation report. You can also read about the details of the 2016 consultation

You can contact [email protected] for any questions about the APMS survey.