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The JRNA will supersede NQPHN's Health Needs Assessment (HNA). Previous HNAs can be found under the Resources section of this page.
The Joint Regional Needs Assessment (JRNA) is a key deliverable required by the Commonwealth and State governments. For Primary Health Networks (PHNs), the JRNA plays a foundational role in shaping our future commissioning strategy. For Hospital and Health Services, the JRNA supports identifying gaps in services and supports service planning.
For the first time in 2024, NQPHN and our four Hospital and Health Services (HHS) are working together under a new framework to deliver our JRNA. The framework and implementation toolkit have been collaboratively developed in partnership with Queensland Aboriginal and Islander Health Council (QAIHC), Health Consumers Queensland, Queensland PHNs, Queensland Government, and Department of Health and Aged Care (DoHAC).
The JRNA will help us collaboratively identify the health and service needs in our region and identify our health and service priorities. These priorities will then be used to inform planning and commissioning activities to improve health outcomes and access to services for northern Queenslanders.
At a very high level, the JRNA process involves the following:
- Systematic identification of health and service needs across our region.
- Examination of the prevalent health needs of our region looking at demographics, disease prevalence, healthcare utilisation, and social determinants of health.
- Analysis of broader regional, state, and national data to contextualise our regions health needs. This helps us find trends and disparities in our region.
- Identification of service gaps where there is unmet need for specific population groups or insufficient access to healthcare services.
- Consultations with key stakeholders including clinicians and community members to gather diverse perspectives and insights.
- Validation and triangulation of findings helps us ensure the information we have is accurate and reliable, reducing the risk of bias or misinterpretation.
- Prioritisation using a standardised methodology helps us determine severity of need and potential impact of interventions. This will ensure we are prioritising health and service needs that will have the greatest health outcomes for our community.
The JRNA project has reached its final milestone. The identified priorities align with NQPHN’s Strategic Plan and the Department of Health and Aged Care’s Primary Health Networks Strategy 2023-24 document.
Based on the prioritisation framework endorsed by the JRNA Steering Committee, the list of needs were scored by the JRNA Prioritisation Committee against the following criteria:
- magnitude
- impact
- effectiveness of intervention
- scope
- equity.
The final JRNA report was approved by the Department of Health and Aged Care in December 2024.
The next steps of this project include working with the four HHSs in early 2025 to understand the shared priorities and opportunities for joint commissioning. Once the report is finalised and published, we will move into the activity work planning phase.
NQPHN has identified ten key overarching themes under which service and health needs have been identified. These themes can be found below. (Click on the image to download the PDF).
The JRNA survey provided a way for us to collect insights and perspectives on health and service needs as a stakeholder living or working within the NQPHN region.
Data privacy, confidentiality, and retention
Participation in this survey was entirely anonymous and confidential.
Data collected will only be accessed by NQPHN and Hospital and Health Service Planning teams for thematic analysis purposes.
NQPHN will act as the custodian of all data collected, ensuring adherence to our internal data governance policies.
Any contact details shared will be used solely for the primary purpose associated with the JRNA. We will not use them for any secondary purpose without your explicit permission.
We would like to thank all the stakeholders who participated and contributed to the rich discussions to understand our region’s health needs.
If you have any questions, please email the NQPHN Data and Intelligence Team at data.intelligence@nqphn.com.au
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