Over recent years, the Ministry of Health has been working with PHUs to develop nationally consistent planning and reporting templates and strengthen alignment of PHU/DHB planning and reporting processes.

This document sets out the 2016/17 Annual Plan Guidance for DHB-owned Public Health Units (PHUs) to support them to develop their PHU Annual Plan with their DHB(s). The guidance, which forms part of the 2016/17 Planning Package for DHBs, has been developed by the Ministry-sector working group in consultation with Ministry and sector colleagues.

Please consider the whole document carefully. Section 1 of the Guidance Overview outlines alignment with Results Based Accountability™ (RBA) and the core functions approach. Section 2 is focused on general guidance while section 3 is about the ‘mechanics’ of the 2016/17 PHU Annual Plan and its templates. Advice on the timeline for the PHU Annual Plan and its endorsement by your DHB(s) is provided at the end of the document.

Please note that the exemplars on Alcohol, and Environmental and Border Health (Appendix 6) are being refreshed to align with core functions and RBA, and will be released when they are ready.