Community health needs assessment has traditionally been an integral part of the health visitor's public health activities. The NHS reforms, and in particular GP fundholding, threaten this aspect of their role. Stephen Peckham and Jacqui Spanton argue that, far from restricting the health visitor's work in this area, purchasers and providers should be investing in community-based information collection, in order to obtain the data vital to provision of locality-sensitive services, and that health visitors should re-discover their role as public health advocates.