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The January/February 2007 issue of the British Journal of School Nursing (pp6-9) contains a useful article by Kath Lancaster, an HNA Nurse Specialist in the Bradford area. The article describes her methodology for carrying out HNAs which seeks to identify those pupils in need of support. It has been adopted widely by school nurses in her local area.

The Journal is available from Gateshead PCT's Health and Information Library Service, based at Team View on the Team Valley Trading Estate.

Thanks to everyone who came along to this workshop and contributed so enthusiastically. Outline Health Needs Assessments were developed looking at
- the health needs of asylum seekers' children
- the health needs of the population of older people who suffer from dementia
- the need for a specialist occupational therapy service for people with cancer
Links to all the materials used in the workshop are included below.

This workshop is now fully booked. If you are coming along you will be sent joining instructions via e-mail. The workshop does not assume any prior knowledge of Health Needs Assessment. However, you may like to read a short paper which argues why this topic is so important. It also includes examples of Health Needs Assessments undertaken locally.

Download Health Needs Assessment - An Essential Tool for Health Service Planning and Commissioning (pdf 203KB)

Thanks to all who came along to this workshop and contributed so enthusiastically. Outline Health Needs Assessments were developed looking at the health needs of people who stammer, the need for telemedicine and the need for physical activity on referral programmes. Links to all the materials used in the workshop are included below.

Smoking is the single most preventable cause of ill health and premature death in the UK. In 2005/06 the NHS Stop Smoking Service in Gateshead helped 1,500 people to successfully quit, measured four weeks after setting a quit date. This represents 4% of smokers in Gateshead. But is this service accessed equally by all sections of the population?

Read the full blog to find out about a recent Health Equity Audit which answered this question.

CEHI is delivering a half day workshop looking at how to carry out a Health Needs Assessment on several occasions during the autumn. Health Needs Assessment is a powerful planning tool that can provide evidence about a population on which to develop services and address health inequalities. Workshops on September 25th and November 28th are already full so a further date has been added on December 12th. For further details and a booking form, read the full blog.....

This short report demonstrates how producing a balanced Health Needs Assessment need not be a huge demand on your time and includes three examples of Health Needs Assessments that have been used to support business cases or requests for treatment within Gateshead PCT.

Download Health Needs Assessment - An Essential Tool for Health Service Planning and Commissioning (130KB)

Thanks to all who came along to this workshop. Twelve people attended and there was a good mix of commissioners, service leads and community nurses. Everyone was very enthusiastic and the group sessions generated some lively debate. The full blog contains links to resources used on the morning and a workshop report....

Public Health are running a workshop looking at how to undertake Health Needs Assessment on Monday 27th March 2006. This follows on from a previous session which examined the theory behind health needs assessment and the nature of demand, supply and need for health services. There is no pre-requirement to have attended the previous session. However, if you are interested the slides and report from this workshop can be downloaded below.
HNA Workshop 2004 Slides
HNA Workshop 2004 Report

It is not essential, but if you are attending the workshop you might also like to look at the following resources in advance:
Workshop programme
Links to HNA resources

This fact sheet aims to help you find the information you might need to undertake a piece of health needs assessment (HNA) work.

HNA is a systematic method of identifying the health and healthcare needs of a population and making recommendations for changes to meet these needs. The key types of information which might be included in HNA are summarised and the fact sheet highlights the main sources of health information along with contact details.

Download HNA Fact Sheet (PDF: 49KB)

The workshop on the Wednesday 31st January is in the Boardroom at Gateshead PCT's Headquarters at Team View on the Team Valley Trading Estate. If you are coming along you will be sent joining instructions by e-mail.

The workshop doesn't assume any prior knowledge of Health Needs Assessment, but if you want to read a brief introductory paper before the morning, follow the link below. The paper includes some local examples of Health Needs Assessments.

Health Needs Assessment - An Essential Tool for Health Service Planning and Commissioning

Download file - Health Needs Assessment in Gateshead