INVOLVING COMMUNITIES IN HEALTH-SERVICE PLANNING IN PRIMARY-CARE

Recent health service policy in the United Kingdom has emphasized the need to involve local people in health service planning. This paper wi ll describe how local communities were involved in the development of Primary Care Resource Centres. These centres are designed to provide a base for the delivery of a range of health, social welfare and inform ation services within a community setting. Four centres in the process of being developed in one region were selected for in-depth study. Th e main method of data collection consisted of semi-structured intervie ws with key 'stakeholders', namely purchasers and providers of primary health care, social care providers, hospital outreach staff and local community and voluntary group workers (Weiss 1983). This paper examin es how the health service organizations developing the centres involve d local communities in planning them and the obstacles and difficultie s encountered. The paper suggests lessons that can be learned for futu re community involvement in the planning of local health services.