Richmond Opoku represented the Centre for Population Health team last week at the 70th Society for Social Medicine & Population Health Conference / European Congress of Epidemiology 2026, held at Queen Mary University of London.

Richmond presented findings from the CARELINK Wales study in a poster presentation titled “Timing of Entry into Out-of-Home Care and Health Service Utilisation: Evidence from Linked Administrative Data in Wales”.

Using anonymised, population-scale data linked within the SAIL Databank, the study examines how a child’s age at entry into out-of-home care influences their subsequent healthcare patterns across primary, emergency, and hospital care. Key insights from the study show that children entering care at a later age (over 5 years) tend to have higher GP and emergency department contact, but lower inpatient and outpatient attendances compared to those entering under age 1.

These findings highlight how timing of care entry shapes distinct healthcare needs, providing crucial evidence to help policymakers and healthcare providers plan better-targeted support for children in care.