Joint Strategic Needs Assessments (JSNA)

Before a strategy is developed a Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) should be undertaken to identify the key priorities and steer the development of the Strategy.

A Needs Assessment is defined as a ‘systematic method for reviewing the health and wellbeing needs of a population, leading to agreed commissioning priorities that will improve health and wellbeing outcomes and reduce inequalities in health’. Breaking down the phrase into its constituent parts is useful in defining what it means in practice for more details view this definition.