Newport City Council Hia Tool

Newport City Council Health, Social Care & Well Being Strategy Health Impact Assessment Tool

Developed by Salim Vohra and Sian Penner 2004

Introduction This tool has been developed to help stakeholders undertake a health impact assessment on Newport’s Health and Wellbeing Strategy. “What is spoken of as a clinical [health] picture is not just a photograph of a person it is an impressionistic painting of the person surrounded by their home, their work, their relations, their friends, their joys, their sorrows, hopes and fears.”

Francis Peabody

What is health impact assessment (HIA) HIA is the key systematic approach to identifying the health impacts of proposed and implemented policies, programmes, projects and services within a democratic, equitable, sustainable and ethical framework. So that negative health impacts are reduced and positive health impacts increased (within a given population). It uses a range of structured and evaluated sources of evidence that includes public and other stakeholders' perceptions and experiences as well as public health, epidemiological, toxicological and medical knowledges.

Difference between health needs assessment (HNA) and HIA health needs assessment

POPULATION

INITIATIVE

health impact assessment

Why do it HIA is undertaken because it can help to deliver better and improved policy, programme, project and service outcomes. It can either be used:

 as an appraisal tool that can help assess the potential negative and positive health consequences of initiatives;

 as a project management tool that can help to structure the development and implementation of initiatives; and

 as an evaluation tool to monitor and assess the achievement of the objectives, outputs and outcomes of any given initiative.

HIA in Wales The National Assembly for Wales is committed to developing the use of health impact assessment. A development programme has been running since the Assembly set out its approach with the document Developing health impact assessment in Wales (November 1999).

1. Strategy Context Description of Priority:

Issue

Answer

1. What indicators from the Health Needs Assessment does this Priority relate to ?

2. How does this Priority relate to current service plans ?

3. How will this Priority be implemented ?

i.e. What different options are there to realise the Priority?

4. What are the key potential positive health and wellbeing impacts?

5. What specific people/groups Page 1

are affected positively?

6. What are the key potential negative health and wellbeing impacts?

7. What specific people/groups are affected negatively?

8. What evidence do you have to support this ?

9. What consultation processes have been undertaken for this Priority ?

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2. Wider determinants of health appraisal matrix (adapted from the British Columbia HIA model described by Erica Ison in Resources for HIA, 2000) Yes, No, Not Sure

If Yes Is this positive or negative?

Who or what group(s) will it affect? Children, families, older people, ethnic minorities, etc

How do you know this? What evidence do you have?

If the affects are negative What possible mitigation measure(s) would reduce the negative effects?

Will the Priority affect income or wealth levels?

Will the Priority affect employment levels?

Will the Priority affect learning opportunities?

Will the Priority affect transport and mobility?

Will the Priority affect crime and safety?

Will the Priority affect people’s ability to influence their lives and locality? Will the Priority affect the local natural and built Page 3

environment?

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3. Overall conclusions and recommendations Issue

Answer

What are your key conclusions? What are the key positive health and wellbeing effects? What are the key negative health and wellbeing effects?

What are your key recommendations and next steps? including mitigation and enhancement measures

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