Health Impact Assessment
Health Impact Assessments are increasingly
coming to the fore as an important tool to assess how policies or
projects can contribute to improving the health and wellbeing of
the population. They are not currently a mandatory requirement
nationally. However they are increasingly being promoted, for
example by the GLA in London and by the Welsh Assembly. Public
authorities and developers alike increasingly need to consider how
policies, strategies or projects will impact on health and health
inequalities.
A Health Impact Assessment can identify the
potential health gains, including health equality benefits,
associated with a policy, strategy or project. It can also identify
potential risks to health and help to identify alternatives or
additional measures to reduce or avoid these risks to health. For
developers, a well-produced health impact assessment can provide
evidence in support of their planning application.
Scott Wilson staff have undertaken specialist
training in Health Impact Assessment. We are able to advise clients
on the appropriate scope of an HIA and thus whether a rapid or
in-depth assessment will be more appropriate. Working closely with
environmental specialists enables us to identify how a proposal is
likely to result in changes to the environmental and social
determinants of health, with impacts for health and health
equality. We are able to drawn on external public health expertise
where necessary. We are able to integrate health impact assessment
with other environmental, social and equality assessments in order
to achieve a streamlined assessment process. We are able to design
and undertake stakeholder engagement processes as part of the
assessment.
