Published: 27 March 2025
Public Health Wales has launched a new Primary Care Clusters profiling tool to help stakeholders better understand and utilise primary care cluster data. The tool provides a summary profile, allowing users to visualise key indicators for all clusters within a health board simultaneously. Users can also compare indicator data with health board and Wales-wide averages. Additionally, a brief narrative highlighting key findings from the data is included.
A primary care cluster brings together local health and care services—such as GP practices, dentists, and community pharmacies—within a geographical area. There are over 60 clusters in Wales, each serving approximately 30,000 to 35,000 people, although this can vary by area.
The tool presents 15 key health indicators for each cluster, covering areas such as deprivation, avoidable mortality, chronic conditions, and emergency admissions. It enables users to quickly identify clusters with significantly higher or lower rates for these indicators compared to the health board or national average.
By making these insights more accessible, the tool will support health professionals in primary and secondary care, public health experts, financial planners, policymakers, and other stakeholders to target interventions more effectively, ultimately helping to improve population health and reduce health inequalities.
For each health board, key findings accompany the data, developed in collaboration with the Primary Care Division at Public Health Wales. The tool is available in both Welsh and English.
Nathan Lester, Head of the Analysis Team at Public Health Wales, said:
"The new Primary Care Clusters profiling tool is an exciting step forward in our commitment to providing high-quality, insightful data for healthcare professionals in Wales. Comparing indicators such as mortality and disease prevalence across different clusters is now easier than ever before. This tool provides a vital resource to guide efforts to improve population health and reduce inequalities."
The profiling tool will be launched on 27 March 2025 and is available at:
Primary Care Clusters, indicator summary, Wales, 2025