These data were produced by the PRELIM project, funded by Arthritis Research UK/Versus Arthritis. The dataset comprises individual patient data, de-identified, from respondents to a cross-sectional survey of health and care undertaken in 11 general practices in 2017 and sampling two overlapping groups: (i) patients aged 35+ years who consulted for a selected common musculoskeletal condition in the previous 12 months, (ii) a random sample of the registered population (irrespective of consultation) aged 35+ years.