Neighbourhoods for health service administration

Health and social service administrators are increasingly realising the importance of adopting a community or neighbourhood scale for the organisation and delivery of many different services. The concept of neighbourhood is an elusive one, yet it has been used for a number of planning purposes. This paper reviews the nature and utility of neighbourhoods and demonstrates the variety of territorial units used by different statutory agencies. The results of an empirical exercise in North Staffordshire are reported as an example of the practical issues involved. Neighbourhoods are identified with a view to being used for data collection, the delivery of health care services and the possible implementation of health forums.