Health Needs Assessment: Brisbane South PHN
Status: Completed November 2021
Client: Brisbane South PHN
Background
A Health Needs Assessment (HNA) is a systematic method of reviewing the health issues facing a population, identifying priorities and developing strategies to improve health and reduce inequity. In Australia, PHN’s perform HNAs on a triennial basis.
In 2021, Brisbane South PHN (BSPHN) conducted their HNA, guided by the Department of Health (DoH), to develop an understanding of the health care needs of their region and develop a plan to guide their activities in 2021/22 - 2024/25. The HNA identifies and prioritises health need within the community, maps available services and proposes strategies to meet these needs.
Approach
Beacon Strategies supported the PHN to conduct a needs assessment that prioritised specific objectives for the Brisbane South region, including:
Incorporating feedback and learnings from the 2017 process:
Service mapping
Stakeholder and community consultation
Prioritising need
Updating and integrating new quantitative data
Development of DoH submission in a format that primarily aims to guide and support BSPHN program teams and commissioned services
Development of additional HNA products targeted to specific audiences and use cases (e.g. by life stage)
The role of Beacon Strategies in this project was to liaise with the PHN team to deliver an effective needs assessment. The outputs/outcomes of this project included:
HNA Report
HNA Summary Report
Regional Profiles
Consultation briefs
Outcomes
The final Health Needs Assessment report was delivered to Brisbane South PHN in November 2021. The PHN then submitted the report to the Department of Health shortly after.
The HNA provided the PHN with a deep understanding of the health and service needs of the Brisbane South region, applying a multiphase approach, supported by robust governance, to:
Identify health and service needs
Prioritise needs with reference to the remit of the PHN, as described by the Department of Health
Inform organisational resource investment and approaches, including priority populations and geographies for otherwise-mandated activities
Provide a platform for communities, health and other system partners to understand and respond to the needs of their region
The report covered:
Background and context of the HNA
Needs assessment approach
Summary of priorities
Respective priority areas
Emerging health areas
Wondering how else we can support you in your next health planning project? Check out the other work we have done with PHNs here.