Needs-Based Planning for Community Care: Matching Theory to Practice

<p>The purpose of this report is to sharpen understanding of the potential of population needs assessment as part of the planning process, as well as to offer further guidance about good practice. It should be relevant to all those concerned with the management of social services departments and inter-agency working. Though the cental illustration concerns the care needs of elderly people this should not detract from the general points being made and their applicability to other client groups.

<p><p><p>The report describes a demonstration project that has been concerned with developing principles for needs-based planning for social services departments following the requirements and subsequent guidance of the 1990 NHS and Community Care Act. An account of this project exists in an internal report (<i>Needs-Based Planning for Community Care</i>, Bebbington, Turvey and Janzon, 1996). The present report has been developed to make this available to a wider audience, providing a more comprehensive discussion about needs-based planning, and an accompanying computer program, but omitting some of the detail.