Public health and primary care collaboration--a case study.

This paper describes the approach of one total purchasing project (TPP) to health needs assessment (HNA) and identifies issues that require consideration when undertaking HNA in primary care. It discusses the advantages of adopting a Health Authority (HA) HNA strategy and the development of a decision-making process for implementing this and other strategies to address possible areas of identified need. The prerequisites, advantages and potential difficulties of this approach are highlighted and related to the needs of primary care groups (PCGs) for addressing health needs and population health.