ABSTRACT
Public Health England, as part of its joint strategic needs assessment programme, has produced guidance on needs assessment for young people's substance misuse. In order to plan services effectively, a needs assessment must have its data rooted in the local population. This chapter presents the concepts of ‘met’, ‘unmet’ and ‘not identified’ needs. The development of a needs assessment in the adolescent population is complex and demanding. The availability of existing models to guide the process is invaluable, and assists in maintaining an essential focus on an assessment that is comprehensive, both in scope and in the engagement and interaction of multiple agencies. In 2012, the Edinburgh Alcohol & Drug Partnership undertook a needs assessment using standard methods. Methods for clearly identifying unmet need have been used in studies of needs assessment in a drug-using population including young drug users.
