West Sussex prepares a new population health snapshot for 2026
West Sussex County Council is preparing another round of its Your Health Matters survey, a population health exercise designed to capture how residents are living, coping and using health-related services. The survey opens in October 2026 and closes on 16 November 2026, with findings scheduled for publication in summer 2027.
This is not a clinical trial or a hospital audit. It is a community-level measurement tool, and those surveys matter because public health decisions often depend on the quality of the baseline data. When local commissioners want to understand diet, smoking, alcohol use and mental wellbeing across an entire county, they need information that reaches beyond clinic walls and into ordinary households.
Random selection is meant to keep the results representative
A random sample of addresses has been drawn from the Royal Mail Postcode Address File. Households are selected entirely at random, and residents are not pre-screened for health status or any other characteristic before invitation. That sampling approach is central to the credibility of the survey because it is intended to reflect the county as a whole rather than the people already most engaged with health services.
The council is also trying to reduce duplication and preserve clean data. Only one person in each household should take part, and answers from the 2024 survey cannot be linked to responses submitted this time. In practical terms, that protects confidentiality while also limiting the chance that earlier participation influences how the 2026 sample behaves.
One invitation, one respondent, one local dataset.
The survey reaches beyond disease labels and into everyday behavior
Questions cover food and diet, smoking, alcohol use and mental wellbeing. Those domains are not chosen at random. They are among the clearest drivers of avoidable illness, and each one influences long-term risk in a different way. Poor diet can shape cardiometabolic disease patterns, smoking remains a major cause of premature morbidity, alcohol use can destabilize physical and mental health, and mental wellbeing often determines whether people can sustain healthier routines at all.
The survey is expected to take around 15 minutes to complete online, though residents can request a paper version or complete it by telephone if online access is difficult or unwanted. That flexibility matters in a countywide exercise, where digital access, confidence with forms and personal preference can all influence participation. A survey that only works for the already-connected would miss exactly the people public health systems need to hear from.
Confidentiality is built into the process, not added afterward
All information supplied through the survey will be treated confidentially under the Data Protection Act 2018 and UK GDPR. Responses will be used for research purposes only, and individuals will not be identifiable in reports or publications. The privacy framework is not a cosmetic promise; it is part of what makes resident participation possible in the first place.
Public health surveys depend on trust. If residents think their answers could be traced back to them, participation tends to fall, and the most vulnerable groups are often the first to disengage. Protecting anonymity is therefore not just a legal obligation but a methodological one, because better confidentiality usually means more honest reporting of behaviors such as drinking, smoking or emotional distress.
The findings are meant to guide service planning, not individual care
West Sussex County Council says the information will help build a picture of resident health and wellbeing in 2026 and will be used for research purposes only. The planned write-up will feed into the county’s Joint Strategic Needs Assessment website, with publication expected in summer 2027. In local government terms, that is where survey data can become service design, resource allocation and future prevention strategy.
The logic is straightforward: if the survey identifies patterns of poor diet, high alcohol use or low mental wellbeing in particular communities, planners can adapt prevention work, outreach and support services accordingly. Population health only improves when the system knows where the pressure points are. Without that map, service planning can drift toward assumptions rather than evidence.
Participation is voluntary, but the county wants broad response rates
Taking part is entirely voluntary. Residents do not have to answer every question, and declining will not affect access to services. Even so, the council is encouraging as many invited residents as possible to participate so the results reflect the full range of experience across West Sussex.
That invitation matters because survey quality depends on who responds as much as on what is asked. A low response rate can distort estimates of wellbeing, especially if people in worse health are less likely to complete the questionnaire or if healthier, more engaged residents are overrepresented. For public health teams, the most useful dataset is the one that is broad enough to capture the social and behavioral diversity of the county.
A prize draw accompanies participation, with a £500 voucher, a £250 voucher, a £100 voucher and 20 further £50 vouchers available to eligible West Sussex residents aged 16 and over. The draw closes on 18 December 2026 at 11:59pm, while the survey itself closes on 16 November 2026.
Navigator Insight is handling the survey work for the council
The survey is being carried out by Navigator Insight on behalf of West Sussex County Council. Residents who receive an invitation letter can verify its authenticity by checking the stamp used on the envelope, which matches the branding shown on the page. Anyone with questions can contact Navigator Insight by telephone, email or post.
For residents who want to be notified about future research, engagement or consultation opportunities, West Sussex also directs people to its Your Voice engagement hub, where they can opt into the People’s Panel and receive periodic invitations. That broader recruitment channel may help the council reach residents who are willing to contribute to future consultations beyond this survey cycle.
The key question for the 2027 report will not just be what residents said, but how well the final sample reflects the county it claims to measure. If participation skews too narrowly, the picture becomes harder to trust; if response is broad and balanced, the survey can become a genuinely useful public health instrument for the years ahead.