Department of Health and Social Care
4 min
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) leads health and social care policy across England. Targeted at all adults in England, the Healthy Choices Quiz is a five-minute interactive lifestyle assessment tool that asks about six aspects of lifestyle. Upon completion, it provides results, practical tips and tools to help the user make improvements to their health and wellbeing.
What our client needed
DHSC needed a secure reporting platform that would enable local authorities across England to independently access and explore anonymised Healthy Choices quiz results for their area.
They wanted to move away from centrally produced reporting, giving local authorities secure access to anonymised local, district and national behavioural insight data on demand. The solution needed to support hundreds of users, present complex datasets in an intuitive format, and provide automated access to up-to-date information while maintaining strict data security standards.
Key challenges:
- Secure access for authorised users
- Intuitive reporting for non-technical users
- Local, district and national data views
- Automated reporting and data refreshes
- Reduced reliance on central reporting
- Scalable, cost-effective solution
What we gave them
Using personalised access controls and secure authentication, authorised users can view and explore Healthy Choices Quiz results across all local authorities, with data segmented by individual authority and broken down by demographics and deprivation deciles.
The platform combines automated daily data refreshes, postcode mapping and interactive visualisations to transform complex datasets into accessible, actionable insights. Throughout the project, our teams worked closely with DHSC stakeholders, supporting extensive testing and continuously refining the platform to ensure it met both user and organisational requirements.
The solution was built to be scalable and cost-effective, removing the need for third-party reporting licences while providing a consistent user experience for local authorities across England. This ensured users could quickly access the information they needed without specialist analytical expertise.
What was the impact
The platform has empowered local authorities to access Healthy Choices quiz data independently, reducing reliance on centrally produced reports.
In the first round of access provision, adoption has been strong. So far, over a quarter of English local authorities have at least one user access the platform, while 21% of activated users returned more than once.
By providing secure, self-service access to up-to-date information, the solution has improved access to local insights, helping organisations better understand behavioural trends, evaluate programme impact, and act on the data more effectively.
The benefits:
- Reduced reliance on central reporting
- Automated daily data updates
- Accessible insights for non-technical users
- Scalable platform without additional licence costs
Working with Paragon DCX was a positive and productive experience. The team demonstrated a strong commitment to quality, supported extensive testing, responded quickly to issues and maintained open communication throughout. Their collaborative approach helped deliver a reporting platform that provides partners with secure access to anonymised local data, enabling them to evaluate impact within their communities.
Georgia Robinson | Partnerships Manager, DHSC Behavioural Programmes Unit