New Zealand’s Northland DHB Health Needs Assessment tool goes live

Northland District Health Board (DHB), which is based in Whangarei and covering the northernmost part of the North Island in New Zealand, has launched a web-based interactive version of the Health Needs Assessment (HNA). DHBs must produce an HNA report every 5–7 years as a way of monitoring the health and wellbeing of the population, as well as their need for health services. The reports are typically published as lengthy paper-based or PDF documents. Former Northland DHB clinician Juliet Rumball-Smith was instrumental in driving the development of an online HNA, which is intended to make the data easier to access and understand by anyone.