ADR Wales News. Published 13/03/2026
ADR Wales researchers have developed a new way to measure the nation’s health, shifting the focus from what harms us to what keeps us well.
Instead of tracking warning signs of ill health, the ADR Wales Social Justice team have developed a new approach, which centres on one powerful, simple indicator: staying well and avoiding serious illness.
The Desirable Health Indicator (DHI), developed by the ADR Wales Social Justice team, draws on hospital, GP, emergency department and mortality records to create an annual score for every individual. The DHI tool aims to provide a measure that is both statistically robust and easily understood by policymakers and the public.
The DHI combines six criteria: living the full year, avoiding hospital admission and emergency department attendance, and receiving no prescriptions for infections, pain relief or mental health conditions. In 2022, 2.68 million people were included in the analysis, with 43.1% meeting all six benchmarks. The proportion was higher among males (49.2%) than females (37.1%), highest among 10- to19-year-olds (58.5%), and lowest among those aged 90 and over (12.8%). Socioeconomic differences showed 47.2% of people in the least deprived areas meeting the indicator compared with 39.4% in the most deprived communities.
Trends from 2015 to 2022 show a gradual rise in the proportion meeting the DHI before a sharp increase during 2020 and 2021—likely reflecting reduced healthcare use during COVID-19 lockdowns—followed by a fall in 2022. Researchers say the indicator’s simplicity and ability to be broken down by age, sex and deprivation could make it a valuable addition to national health reporting, with interest already expressed in exploring its wider use across the UK.