The joint strategic needs assessment is a crucial document required to accurately assess the health needs of a local population. Each local authority have a duty to carry out health analysis of their local population in order to ensure they map health needs and commission services to address the identified need. If JSNA’s fail to assess needs of all populations in their community they are failing in their duty. Commissioning services is predominately underpinned by the health analysis of JSNA’s and therefore it is imperative that all population health needs are appropriately assessed.
In 2012 Irish in Britain carried out an evaluation of 52 JSNA to ascertain the health needs of the Irish. As an umbrella organisation we analysed the JSNA within the locality of our members. The report produced ‘Degrees of Ethnic Inclusion’ highlighted that many JSNA’s had identified the Irish under demographics but failed to look at the health needs of the Irish community. Taking into consideration that JSNA was a relatively new approach we chose the action to contact the JSNA leads in each of these areas and provide them with the report, information relating to the prominent health needs of the Irish and details of their local Irish service provider. We subsequently contacted each health and wellbeing board in place at the time and provided them with same information.
In 2014 we carried out a further analysis of JSNA with the majority of JSNA’s contacted. Our report, Degrees of Ethnic Inclusion revisited concludes that despite being provided with detailed information on the health needs of the Irish and the contact details of their local Irish services JSNA in the majority have excluded the Irish under health analysis. There has been some improvement of recognition of Gypsy Traveller needs but not consistent throughout JSNA’s.
This report provides detailed information of our findings and is evidence of direct exclusion of Irish. We aim to address this level of exclusion with Public Health England and will base our future work on this issue around our report.
