Salford's Joint Strategic Strengths and Needs Assessment (JSSNA)

What is the Joint Strategic Strengths and Needs Assessment?

The Joint Strategic Strengths and Needs Assessment (JSSNA) considers a wide range of factors that affect the health and wellbeing of the people of Salford. The objective of traditional JSNAs (without the second ‘S’) is to involve partner organisations, such as the local NHS, local authorities, police, fire service and third sector organisations, to provide a top level, holistic view of current and future need within the city. By including ‘Strengths’, Salford aims to build on this approach by acknowledging the many existing strengths and assets within our city and its communities that already bring huge benefits to society, families and individuals.

The JSSNA is used to agree key priorities to improve the health and wellbeing of all our communities, at the same time as reducing health inequalities. The delivery of the JSSNA is a responsibility of Salford’s Health and Wellbeing Board. Findings from the JSSNA also inform Salford’s Locality Plan.

Salford’s JSSNA has two main elements, a Core JSSNA and a collection of more detailed ‘deep dive’ reports.

Core JSSNA

The Core JSSNA, introduced in 2025, is a set of web-based reports, each providing an accessible summary on a wide range of various public health topics. They will introduce the topic and explain why it matters, before giving some local context through a key indicator. Inequalities are addressed with information on how different people are affected by the issue. The summaries end with an outline of what can be done to help and where to find out more information. 

Deep dive JSSNA reports

The JSSNA deep dive reports each provide a much more detailed exploration of a topic. There will be thorough analysis, incorporating research evidence, local insight and contextual information. The deep dive reports will explore the strengths and assets relevant to the topic, explore inequalities in detail and include recommendations for further action based on the findings of the report.

Ward profiles

The JSSNA also informs Salford’s ward profiles which provide an overview of the key demographic social, environmental and economic trends affecting the area and the demand for and take-up of public services. Ward profiles are continually updated, improved on and expanded.

Further information

Information which benchmarks Salford against England can also be found in several health profiles produced by the Department of Health and Social Care. These include the city-wide Salford Health profile and Child Health profile. The latest information around GP practices can be found at National General Practice profiles. Salford's Local Area Profiles provide insight in the areas served by groups of GP surgeries, known as Primary Care Networks (PCNs).

These profiles are useful to consider in conjunction with the ward profiles to provide further city level information with comparison to England.