The Chief Medical Officer, in partnership with the Bermuda Health Council, hosted an event on November 1, 2022 that brought together professionals from health and social care with representatives from the government, the non-profit sector and patient representatives to launch the process of developing Bermuda's Joint Strategic Needs Assessment.

 Minister of Health, Kim Wilson, JP, MP, stated: “The Joint Strategic Needs Assessment is a comprehensive assessment of our people's current and future health needs. It will inform our decision making, including our progress towards universal health coverage. It also forms a crucial pillar of the Bermuda Health Strategy 2022 – 2027, helping us gain a detailed understanding of our baseline health metrics at the beginning of an exciting journey of reform.” 

The Joint Strategic Needs Assessment is being produced by a multi-disciplinary team led by the Office of the Chief Medical Officer with support from across government and the health sector. It will focus on five areas:

·Population profile and wider determinants of health

·Health behaviour and risk factors

·Causes of ill health and death

·Vulnerable groups

·Healthcare services

The Joint Strategic Needs Assessment will be produced by mapping current data sources, identifying data gaps and extracting and analysing data to produce a holistic and wide-ranging analysis of health needs. Numerical data will be complemented by gaining additional contextual insight into factors that impact health from healthcare service users and other stakeholders. This information will give the Ministry of Health the knowledge needed to “Agree Our Starting Points” a year one project underpinning the journey to universal health coverage, as well as delivering on this government’s commitment outlined in the Bermuda Health Strategy 2022 – 2027 to understand our population health needs. Going forward, this will allow us to monitor the impact of universal health coverage on improving health outcomes.

The Joint Strategic Needs Assessment is a collaborative and locally owned process that will result in a vital report published by April 2023. It will be data-driven, informed by evidence and asset-based whilst being pragmatic to enable us to achieve the remainder of the Health Strategy 2022 – 2027. We will be transparent throughout its development by continuing to engage with patients, the public and community and the private, public and non-profit sectors.

The public can submit questions to OfficeofCMO@gov.bm.