

Health Planning
Planning for better health care
We look at a number of things to help us plan health services, including:
- the things we 'need' for good health - which we find in what people say, what experts say, and in what our data shows us; and
- the things that 'determine' or influence our health
Need is an important concept in health planning. We look at four different types of need to build a picture of community problems and ensure that ‘real’ need is identified.


How do we do it?
We gather information about health needs and issues in our region by talking to people and communities, consulting experts and health care providers, looking at research, and from data we gather from many sources, such as the census, general practices and hospitals and other sources. As much as possible we try to look at smaller areas and communities so that we have a good picture of the health needs in our region.
We also take into consideration health care costs, benefits, and supply and demand in determining how best to address needs and improve health outcomes.
Core Needs Assessment
The Core Needs Assessment (CNA) is the first stage in the broader PHN commissioning framework and provides the basis for planning and commissioning of services. The CNA identifies the health and service needs of the HNECC PHN
population and inform the PHN’s understanding of our region.
The Core Needs Assessment 2022-2025 has built upon the 2019-2022 Core Needs Assessment utilising a convergent parallel design approach to undertaking the health and service needs analysis.


Hunter New England Central Coast (HNECC) Region

Who lives in our region?
The usual resident population of the HNECC region in 2016 was 1,216,725 people, this is expected to increase by 19.5% by 2031 to over 1.4 million people.

Who are our health providers?
General practitioners (GPs) are considered the cornerstone of health care in the primary health care setting. A large number and range of other health professionals and services support GPs in providing primary health care services in our region.

Health Profiles and Reports
We have created a range of resources to assist with health planning in our region, integrating, analysing and summarising information and data from many sources. Our current resources are available below for download.

Our Activities
The Department of Health requires all PHNs to make their Activity Work Plans for programs publicly available.

Sources of information
We obtain information from a large number of sources. This page explains some of our key sources. For any other information or enquiries please contact the Health Planning and Performance Team.