A framework for place based health planning.

Place based health planning is an effective approach to health planning with enormous benefits including the use of local characteristics, organisations and partnerships to effectively and efficiently identify and prioritise needs, and develop and deliver programs and services. Despite its inherent advantages, place based health planning has not been extensively used by health professionals, neither has it been given adequate attention in the literature. This article provides a framework to guide and encourage health professionals to use place based health planning. The framework has three main parts, namely needs assessment, program planning and implementation, and covers most aspects of the identification of needs, and the development and delivery of programs and services to address those needs. The article also includes a proposed index of prioritisation to enable health professionals to prioritise needs and improve program and service provision.