Communal health targets as seen by the population and by experts. Two inquiries in the Ennepe-Ruhr district

Abstract

Health planning at the community level depends largely on the consensus of participants and the support by local politicians and the public. For a successful coordination it is important to integrate the common opinions and priorities of the partners. The aim of the project was to determine the common priorities of the general public and local health experts. The results should be the basis for the development of local health planning. 1181 representative selected adult inhabitants of the Ennepe-Ruhr district were interviewed by phone about their expectations regarding local health policy. At the same time the members of the local health conference (n = 28) were asked to fill in a questionnaire on the same subjects. The 10 North Rhine-Westphalian Health targets are largely unknown by the public. The aims 'Fight against Cancer' (75%), 'Minimising the health effects of drug abuse' (53%) and 'Reduction of heart diseases' (53%) were seen as most important. Emphasised were the quality of nursing and declining services of the health care system due to financial problems. General targets like 'More information of patients' or 'Strengthening of patient participation' were considered as less important. By contrast, the health experts stated structural and planning elements as central NRW-Health Targets. Ranked first are the topics 'Improvement of health promotion' and 'Empowerment and quality of health care'. The results of two polls were important for the planning of the work in the local health conference. Remarkable are the discrepancies between the two groups. While the citizens focussed on concrete health problems, the experts, concentrated on structural aspects of the health system. The complex of 'Old Age and nursing' and 'Aspects of/deficits in primary health care' were important for both groups. The local health coordination is to develop a concrete agenda to integrate these results. The theoretical basis of community health policy is discussed.