My favorite dictionaries show "wants doing" as equivalent to "needs to be done."
Online Collins Dictionary web site
5. VERB [no cont, no passive]
If you say that something wants doing, you think that it needs to be done.
[mainly British, informal]
The windows wanted cleaning. [V -ing]
Her hair wants cutting. [VERB verb-ing]
New Oxford American Dictionary
2 [with infinitive] informal ought, should, or need to do something: you don't want to believe everything you hear.
• [with present participle] mainly British (of a thing) require to be attended to in a specified way: the wheel wants greasing.