Rheumatology Advance Access originally published online on February 28, 2003
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Rheumatology 2003; 42: 503-506
© 2003 British Society for Rheumatology
Editorial |
Population needs assessment and knee replacement surgery
School of Medicine, Health Policy and Practice, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
Determining a population's need for any healthcare intervention is an enormously difficult challenge. Yet, without attempts to quantify healthcare need, health service planning operates in a vacuum. This vacuum has often been filled by reference to past provision, professional judgement, political expedience or, to a limited extent, population preferences.
Needs assessment began to blossom within the UK in the early 1990s largely driven by political and public concern about waiting lists, particularly for surgical interventions. The National Health Service Review Working for Patients' [1] stated that the assessment of population health needs should be the first step in deciding what local health services are required. This advice came at a time when health authorities began to set contracts with their providers (particularly hospitals) for services.
Need for healthcare should not be confused with a need for better health. The latter may be assessed by measures of mortality and
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