Health Maps Wales is mainly based on Welsh resident data with defined geographic boundaries. Health Maps Wales geographies include:-
Local Health Board of Residence (LHBs): Local Health Boards of Residence are the Welsh Local Health Boards created under NHS reforms (effective as of 1st October 2009). Each Health Board provides both Primary and Secondary care services to their residents. Electoral Divisions, LSOA’s, MSOA’s and local authorities are all nested within the Health Board boundaries.
Local Authorities (LA): Local Authorities are responsible for all local government functions within its area. There are 22 Local Authorities in Wales. Electoral Divisions, LSOA’s, MSOA’s are all nested within the local authority boundaries.
Middle Layer Super Output Areas (MSOA): MSOAs are the middle layer of the statistical geographies based on the 2021 Census. They comprise between 2,000 and 6,000 households and have a usually resident population between 5,000 and 15,000 persons. In Wales there are 408 2021 Census MSOAs and they are nested within the local authority boundaries.
Lower Layer Super Output Areas (LSOA): LSOA’s are the lower layer in the statistical geographies based on the 2021 Census. LSOAs comprise between 400 and 1,200 households and have a usually resident population between 1,000 and 3,000 persons. In Wales, there are 1,917 2021 Census LSOAs and they are nested within the local authority and MSOA boundaries.
For more information on the Geographies of Wales, visit Office for National Statistics (ONS) Geography Portal or ONS Census 2021 Geographies.
** Upper Super Output Areas (USOA): USOA’s are the upper layer in the statistical geographies. As the boundaries for USOAs have not yet been released following the 2021 Census, the latest Health Maps Wales release excludes USOA data.
Other Geographies:-
The Quality Assurance and Improvement Framework and some of the Cardiovascular Atlas of Variation indicators contain Welsh ‘registered’ data. This is based on the Wales GP registered population and includes Primary Care Cluster information.
Primary Care Cluster boundaries shown are purely notional, and, in reality, these boundaries are unclear with a small but significant number of individuals being registered with a Primary Care Cluster outside of the displayed geographic boundary. Wales has a population of over 3.2 million individuals distributed over 63 Primary Care Clusters averaging around 50,000 people in each cluster. These 63 “notional” Primary Care Cluster boundaries were derived through the grouping together of Lower Super Output Areas (LSOAs), of which there are 1,917 in Wales. These boundaries may not reflect the areas deemed to be covered by each cluster due to the method used to allocate LSOAs to Clusters. The mapping is purely for statistical purposes and was created by Wesh Government. Individual GP registration and residence data from the Welsh Demographics Service (WDS) was used to inform the allocation of LSOAs to Primary Care Clusters. LSOAs were assigned to Primary Care Clusters on a first past the post (FPTP) basis, e.g. if LSOA 1 had 80% individuals registered with a Primary Care Cluster in Cluster A and 20% registered with a Primary Care Cluster in Cluster B, LSOA 1 was allocated to Cluster A. Similarly, if LSOA 1 had 40% individuals registered with a Primary Care Cluster in Cluster A, 35% registered with a Primary Care Cluster in Cluster B, and 25% registered with a Primary Care Cluster in Cluster C, LSOA 1 was allocated to Cluster A. This allocation of LSOAs to primary Care Clusters was carried out in 2024.