Health impact assessment in relation to other forms of impact assessment

Sirs, I read with interest the paper by Mindell and Joffe 1 on health impact assessment in relation to other forms of impact assessment , seeking throughout comments on the links with sustainable development/sustainability appraisal. I reached the final paragraph on integrated assessment, still to find no mention. The authors make appropriate points about local authorities being empowered to promote the economic, social and environmental well-being of their population; about health status depending primarily on factors outside the health services; and about lessening the burden on officials by consolidating the number of impact assessments. The authors go on to comment that there is still a common fallacy that health is the responsibility of only the health services. For all of these reasons, much work has been undertaken over the last 2 or 3 years to forge links with the wider government agenda, at regional and local levels, for health improvement and for reducing health inequalities. The Government requires a Regional Sustainable Development Framework (RSDF) be produced for every English region, setting out the sustainable development context for all other regional strategies. In Yorkshire and the Humber, sustainable development is a cross-cutting theme of all regional strategies. The RSDF 2 has 15 aims (see Figure), each with defined objectives , all of which relate to the wider determinants of health (economic, social and environmental), and hence is an integrated framework for ensuring that sustainable development is at the heart of decision-making. The RSDF contains a Sustainability Appraisal tool for screening policies, plans and projects that has now been modified by a multidisciplinary team of public health specialists, academics, and government office and Regional Development Agency officers from a variety of backgrounds , better to serve as a screening phase tool for health impact assessment (i.e. an integrated assessment tool). This tool has been used to assess the Regional Economic Strategy and major projects submitted for Regional Development Agency funding, as well as Regional Planning Guidance, and shortly will be used to appraise the Regional Housing Strategy. Having completed the 'health impact' modifications to the RSDF (currently out for consultation in the region) in North and North East Lincolnshire with officers from the two local authorities (sustainable development) and the two Local Strategic Partnerships, the tool has now been officially accepted for use locally to screen all major policies, plans and projects – 1 Good quality employment opportunities available to all 2 …