What is the JSNA?
The Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) is a continual process of pulling together a wide range of information about the health and social care needs of people in Richmond upon Thames.
JSNA projects focus on individual topics, such as particular health problems (e.g. diabetes), unhealthy lifestyles (e.g. smoking), specific communities or groups (e.g. mothers or older people), and treatments or services (e.g. maternity care).
The findings of JSNA work are published through the following products:
- The Richmond Story – An overview of the health of Richmond residents, summarising JSNA findings.
- Newsletters – Recent and upcoming JSNA work and featured topics.
- Newsflashes – Summarising the local relevance of recently published national policies/strategies, research and other publications.
- Needs assessment reports – Detailed examination of local health and wellbeing needs, and the implications for local strategies and commissioning plans.
Needs assessment reports include the following elements:
- Background – Definition of the topic (e.g. health problem, population group), such as causes of disease, disease progression, possible treatments and other services, and details of key relevant strategies or policies.
- Local picture – Description of the scale and severity of the needs associated with the topic in Richmond.
- Local services – Description of the current services and assessment of the extent to which they address local needs.
- Conclusions – Clear statements on the current local position and issues for further attention.
- Recommendations – Clear, specific, realistic, and timetabled actions to improve local health and wellbeing; recommended to particular audiences, including the Local Authority, Clinical Commissioning Group, other organisations (e.g. voluntary sector, police, employers), and the public and patients.
- Equalities Impact Needs Assessment preparatory information – Initial consideration of the impact of health problems and services on particular population groups, including the defined Protected Characteristic Groups.
Why do we need the JSNA?
The JSNA provides key information as a basis for the improvement of existing services and planning of future services, with ultimate aim of improving health and wellbeing of people in Richmond upon Thames.
The reports help the Council and key partners, such as the NHS and voluntary organisations, invest their resources in the most efficient and effective ways to improve health and wellbeing, develop strategies to tackle health problems, and to commission services designed to meet local people’s needs.
How is the JSNA developed?
The JSNA is delivered by the Council’s Public Health Department, collaboratively with other Council teams, NHS organisations such as the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and Trusts, and other local organisations, including the voluntary sector and representatives of the public and patients.
Wide engagement in the JSNA is promoted through specific partnership events, involvement of Richmond Healthwatch and RCVS, and publication of JSNA reports on the Council website.
Needs assessment projects involve the consideration and analysis of a wide range of differing types of information, including:
- Population characteristics.
- Population outcome patterns and trends according to national frameworks: public health, NHS, adult social care, and children and young people.
- Evidence on the most efficient and effective approaches of addressing health problems.
- Contract monitoring information on the impact and costs of health and wellbeing services.
- Opinion of local health and wellbeing professionals, and politicians.
- Feedback on the experience and references of local people.
Needs assessment reports are periodically updated to ensure they are up to date and take account of changes in the local population and developments in service provision.
Who oversees the JSNA?
Development of the JSNA is accountable to the Council and CCG’s Strategic Partnership Group (SPG) and Health and Wellbeing Board (HWB).
What needs assessment themes & topics are currently available?
Staying healthy
Individual lifestyle choices and behaviours are important in preventing particular diseases and ensuring good health in general.
Needs assessments on staying healthy identify how people can be supported and enabled to make healthy choices and maintaining healthy behaviours.
Health conditions
Needs assessments focusing on health conditions help us to understand the size of the problem (e.g. the number of people with diabetes), the services in place to tackle them and to allow any gaps to be identified.
Groups & communities
People in groups with similar characteristics, such as their age, sex, or occupation; and communities with common characteristics, beliefs and behaviours, such as area of residence, ethnicity, or lifestyle, often suffer similar health and wellbeing problems.
Needs assessments focusing on specific groups or communities are able to give detailed consideration of the particular needs, perspectives and context of the local people included; in order to identify the most effective tailored approaches to addressing their common health problems.
Wider determinants of health
As well as being influenced by an individual’s genetic inheritance and their health-related lifestyle choices and behaviours, health and wellbeing is also determined by the wider social and economic circumstances (e.g. job opportunities, education, housing) in which people live.
Needs assessment examining local wider determinant of health allow specific local circumstances and context to be fully explored, enabling effective locally tailored strategies among partner agencies to be developed.