Deprivation at GP cluster level
Next update expected:June 2026
Updates
- 15th May 2026
- Dataset first published.
Main information
- Designation
- Official statistics
- Data provider 1
- Welsh Government
- Data source 1
- Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation (WIMD)
- Data provider 2
- NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership
- Data source 2
- Wales National Workforce Reporting System (WNWRS)
- Data provider 3
- NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership
- Data source 3
- Contractor Services
- Time period covered
- January 2022 to April 2025
Overview
- Summary of dataset and variables
This shows the number of people registered to GP practices in each primary care cluster in Wales (the cluster population). It also shows the number and percentage of patients registered to practices in the cluster who live in the most deprived 20% of areas according to the Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation (WIMD) and the cluster deprivation quintile. Two methods for calculating the practice deprivation quintile are included. In addition, the full time equivalent (FTE) count of staff working in practices in the cluster are provided.
- Data collection or calculation
Data for practice populations refer to January 2022 and April for subsequent years. In terms of workforce data, the data that most closely aligns with the reference period of the practice population data is used. The workforce data as at 31 December 2021 is linked to each practice in the January 2022 practice population extract. For the April practice population data, the workforce data as at 31 March of the same year is used.
Practice population data is provided by NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership and is a snapshot taken at a single point in time.
The purpose of these data are to provide options for analysing the relative deprivation of the population registered to each general practices in each primary care cluster in Wales. The analysis is extended to show how general practice workforce (full time equivalents) differs by the relative deprivation of the population in Wales.
Determining which measure is most appropriate to use depends on the purpose of what the measure will be used for. It is recommended to use ‘number’ measures when targeting the greatest number of people living in deprived areas, whereas it is more appropriate to use the ‘percentage’ measures when targeting the highest concentration of people living in deprived areas.
While the results at practice and cluster level are broadly similar, the practice level data will provide a more granular analysis of deprivation. Clusters group practices, so while some may broadly serve similar populations, inevitably there will be some practices which have a more deprived population than others, in the same cluster. Clusters analysis may be most appropriate when targeting broader areas, but some more detailed insight may be masked when aggregating data for individual practices.
The resident lower layer super output areas (LSOAs) of patients registered to each general practice were matched to the Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation (WIMD) 2019 to count the number of patients who live in the most deprived 20% of LSOAs as determined by their WIMD ranking. General practice data was aggregated to primary care clusters and rankings were created based on two measures to estimate deprivation at primary care cluster level. These were:
- The number of patients registered to the general practice within the cluster who live in the most deprived 20% of areas in Wales.
- The percentage of each cluster population that live in the most deprived 20% of areas in Wales.
The practice population data for 2023 onwards used in the deprivation analysis will not necessarily match the published practice population data for the same period. The published data uses the latest 2021 LSOA mappings, however as the deprivation analysis relies on WIMD 2019 which uses 2011 LSOA mappings, the deprivation analysis also needed to match the 2023 onwards practice populations to the 2011 LSOAs and this resulted in a small number of patients not being matched.
Welsh Government was notified of cluster changes after the changes had already taken place in practice. These changes relate to the following cluster mergers:
- Rhondda North and Rhondda South merging as Rhondda
- Merthyr Tydfil North and Merthyr Tydfil South merging as Merthyr Tydfil
- Taf Ely North and Taf Ely South merging as Taf Ely
The exact dates on which these changes took effect are not known; however, they are confirmed to have been in place since at least 1 April 2023. Therefore, these mergers are reflected in the data from April 2023 onwards.
April 2023, April 2024 and April 2025 data: There were 60 clusters. The quintiles are split evenly with exactly 12 clusters in each. Quintiles are used to analyse broadly similar groups of clusters, with cluster quintile 1 containing the 12 clusters with the most deprived populations in Wales.
January 2022 data: There were 63 clusters. As 63 is not divisible into a whole number by five, the quintiles do not contain the exact same number of clusters. There are 13 clusters for quintiles 1, 3 and 5 and 12 clusters for the remaining quintiles. Quintiles are used to analyse broadly similar groups of clusters, with cluster quintile 1 containing the 13 clusters with the most deprived populations in Wales.
- Statistical quality
The data used in these tables is of good coverage and quality. All GP practices with General Medical Services (GMS) contracts at the time of data extraction are included. Practice population data is available for all practices.
A small percentage of data was not included in the analysis. As WIMD is a deprivation measure relative to Wales only, English residents could not be included in the model. As we have data collected for Welsh general practices collected on a consistent basis, English practices are not included, and therefore any Welsh residents registered to English practices will not be included. For context, in the April 2024 extract there were 21,067 patients registered to Welsh general practices who resided in England, and there were 13,339 patients registered to English general practices who resided in Wales.
Where a patient resides in England but is registered to a Welsh general practice, they are also removed from that practice’s population list size in this analysis, to not skew the percentage of patients living in deprived areas calculation.
Patients registered to non-GMS practices are also not included in the analysis.
Patients registered to Welsh practices who had missing LSOA data are also excluded from the analysis; there were 108 patients in the January 2022 data, 43 patients in the April 2023 data, 49 patients in the April 2024 data and 1,077 patients in the April 2025 data.
Published by
- Organisation
- Welsh Government
- Contact email
- stats.healthinfo@gov.wales