How to record the outcome of your assessment in the IA
You will need to record in the HIA the impacts identified using the three questions in the previous section, based on the evidence reviewed, in proportion to their significance, and your consideration of how negative health impacts can be mitigated and how any positive impacts enhanced.
This section tells you how to use the analysis to record the potential health impacts and proposed mitigating measures in the IA.
The purpose and intended effect of the policy is outlined in the Summary: Interventions & Options front page. The results of the assessment of health and well-being impacts should be incorporated in the Costs and Benefits Analysis, the Evidence Base and attached to the the IA as an Annex. You should begin consideration of the health and well-being impacts of a proposal at an early stage of policy development.
The analysis of all the potential impacts on health and well-being from social, economic and environmental costs and benefits of each policy option should be included to determine whether the benefits from the policy options justify the costs.
It is important to assess whether there are any disproportionate impacts on particular groups of people, especially those who are vulnerable. Proposals should not widen inequalities, but actively seek to reduce them. Consider what could be done to counterbalance the negative impacts for groups which may get less health benefit from positive proposals or may be adversely affected by proposals with a negative impact on health. Further information on health inequalities is on the Department of Health website
Measures to enhance the positive and mitigate negative health impacts need to be costed. The Department of Health document Policy Appraisal and Health provides guidance.
Remember the IA should record the potential positive and negative impacts of the policy proposal, and propose mitigating options for reducing negative and enhancing positive impacts.
