New health regions have been formed in Ireland under the Sláintecare reform programme, and as part of their implementation, Ireland will be moving towards a more population-based model of service planning for health needs. The HSE is developing a guide for Health Needs Assessment (HNA) that can be used to inform health needs planning at regional level, but there is limited experience in incorporating community perspectives into HNA. This project will provide a vehicle for bringing community perspectives into health planning using methods that are feasible for the HSE going forward, so that the community voice can be incorporated into prioritisation and decision making in relation to health needs in a systematic way.
The first stage of the project will involve a scoping review of methodologies used to incorporate community-based participatory approaches into Health Needs and Assets Assessment. In collaboration with the HSE, we will then identify and analyse relevant available secondary data sources available to inform an HNA, taking account of the different levels (local / regional / national) at which data analysis will be required.
When the secondary data analysis is completed, and taking into account the findings of the scoping review, we will work with community members and organisations, Local Authority (LA) teams, and the HSE, to identify health and well-being priorities and community assets through community mapping, transect walks, and in-person workshops. Using a convergent mixed methods approach, we will then integrate the evidence from the secondary data analysis and the community workshops, comparing and contrasting community perspectives with those identified through secondary data analysis, and with HSE and DOH priorities. Finally, we will share the findings with relevant stakeholders and develop a model to support stakeholders in replicating the methodology going forward.