| Title | Author | Description | Resources |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 years of the Wales Health Impact Assessment Support Unit (WHIASU) and the evolution of Health Impact Assessment (HIA) in Wales | Michael Fletcher, Kathryn Ashton, Laura Evans, Cheryl Williams, Abigail Malcolm, Catrin Lyddon, Lee Parry-Williams, Nerys Edmonds, Liz Green | The 20th anniversary of WHIASU marks two decades of advancing HIA as a vital tool for healthier decision-making and reducing health inequalities in Wales. Established in 2004, WHIASU has led the way in enabling the integration of HIA into policy at local, regional and national levels. The timeline highlights key milestones, documents, and publications in WHIASU’s history and the practice of HIA in Wales. Looking ahead, WHIASU will continue to champion HIA and Health in All Policies (HiAP), supporting public bodies in implementing upcoming HIA regulations under the Public Health Act (Wales) Act 2017. | View resource |
| Health Impact Assessment (HIA) and Local Development Plans (LDPs): A Toolkit for Practice | Liz Green, Lee Parry-Williams, Edwin Huckle | Please download Adobe Acrobat Reader before opening this resource in order for full functionality.
Public Health Wales has created a practical Health Impact Assessment (HIA) toolkit that will enable planers to easily integrate health into their development plans for the future. Designed to help further the collaboration between planning and public health sectors in Wales the resource aims to maximise positive health and wellbeing outcomes through land use planning policies that create healthy, equitable and cohesive communities. |
View resource |
| Health Impact Assessment (HIA) Overview (2020) | Wales Health Impact Assessment Support Unit (WHIASU) | Provides an overview on a Health Impact Assessment (HIA). | View resource |
| Health Impact Assessment (HIA): A practical guide for voluntary best practice in Wales | This guide is designed for organisations and practitioners who wish to undertake a HIA voluntarily as part of good practice. The guide: • Encourages the proactive, best practice use of HIA to strengthen decision-making and consider inequalities • Is not limited to strategic decisions but is suitable for a range of decisions • Outlines the HIA process and flexible methods that can be tailored to projects, policies, or plans of any scale • Promotes a participatory approach by engaging with stakeholders to identify a wide range of positive and unintended negative impacts. | View resource | |
| Health Impact Assessment (HIA): Example participatory workshop agenda | This is an example agenda which can be used when running a participatory workshop at either the Screening step or the Evidence Appraisal step of the HIA. | View resource | |
| Health Impact Assessment (HIA): Frequently Asked Questions | WHIASU have created this document which looks to answer your Health Impact Assessment (HIA) questions, including looking at the benefits, what it involves and when to carry out a HIA, alongside other questions. Alongside our other resources, it can help to further your understanding of HIA. | View webpage | |
| Health Impact Assessment (HIA): Participatory Workshop Recording Template | This template can be used at the Evidence Appraisal step of the HIA process to help record discussions during a participatory workshop. This is to be used alongside the Population Groups and Wider Determinants of Health and Well-being resource. | View resource | |
| Health Impact Assessment (HIA): Population Groups and Wider Determinants of Health and Well-being | This resource is for use during the Screening and Evidence Appraisal steps of a HIA to identify the wider determinants, and population groups who could be impacted by a policy/project/proposal. This resource is just a guide and is not exhaustive. It is acknowledged that terminology can change over time. | View resource | |
| Health Impact Assessment (HIA): Scoping Template | This resource can be used during the Scoping step of the HIA process. Guidance notes are provided at the end of this resource to support completion. Ideally, the scoping should be completed by more than one individual. | View resource | |
| Health Impact Assessment (HIA): Screening Record Sheet | This Screening record sheet can be used at the Screening step of the HIA process to help guide and record discussions. This is to be used alongside the Population Groups and Wider Determinants of Health and Well-being resource. | View resource | |
| Health Impact Assessment (Wales) Regulations 2025: A guide for public bodies in Wales | This guide provides step-by-step support to public bodies required to carry out HIAs under the HIA regulations in Wales. The Guide: • Explains the legal requirements and when an HIA is needed • Sets out a clear process and steps to follow, from start to finish • Includes practical tools, templates, and examples to help ensure compliance and transparency. | View resource | |
| Mental Well-being Impact Assessment: A toolkit for well-being | Cooke, A., Friedli, L., Coggins, T., Edmonds, N., Michaelson, J., O’Hara, K., Snowden, L., Stansfield, J., Steuer, N., Scott-Samuel, A. | This MWIA toolkit for well-being provides an evidence based framework for improving well-being through commissioning processes, project and service design and delivery, community engagement and impact assessment. It enables people and organisations to assess and improve a policy, programme, service or project to ensure it has a maximum equitable impact on people’s mental well-being, and to identify ways to measure those impacts. | View resource |
| Mental Wellbeing Checklist: A toolkit for wellbeing | Anthea Cooke, Lynne Friedli, Tony Coggins, Nerys Edmonds, Juliet Michaelson, Kate O’Hara, Lynn Snowden, Jude Stansfield, Nicola Steuer, Alex Scott-Samuel | This checklist provides a quick framework to help people consider mental well-being in more detail when commissioning, delivering or developing a policy, strategy, service or initiative. | View resource |
| Planning and Enabling Healthy Environments: Case Studies | Tom Johnson, Liz Green | Public Health Wales have published a suite of documents that will help inform and enable healthier future environments including strategies to help stem the rise in obesity in Wales. | View resource |
| Planning and Enabling Healthy Environments: Supplementary Planning Guidance | Tom Johnson, Liz Green | Public Health Wales have published a suite of documents that will help inform and enable healthier future environments including strategies to help stem the rise in obesity in Wales. | View resource |
| Planning for Better Health and Wellbeing in Wales | TCPA, WHIASU and Public Health Wales | This Briefing was prompted by the duty placed on public bodies by the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 to contribute to achieving national well-being goals, and by the strengthening the planned planning system, again with a requirement to contribute to well-being goals, instituted by the Planning (Wales) Act 2015. These legislative changes provided a timely opportunity to develop practical guidance for both planning and public health practitioners and policy-makers, to help them take health and well-being considerations into account when drawing up local well-being plans and Local Development Plans and when making decisions on planning applications. | View resource |
| Putting the Spotlight on Health, Well-being and Equity Using Health Impact Assessment: Case Studies from Public Bodies in Wales | Mark Drane, Liz Green, Kathryn Ashton, Michael Fletcher, Sumina Azam | This publication focuses on the use of Health Impact Assessment (HIA) by public bodies in Wales as a process that can support policymakers and those involved in decision taking to maximise well-being benefits, minimise harm to health, and avoid widening health inequalities. It also supports public bodies in meeting duties under the Public Health (Wales) Act (2017). | View resource |
| Quality Assurance Review Framework for Health Impact Assessment (HIA) | Liz Green, Lee Parry-Williams, Nerys Edmonds, With contribution from Steinthora Jonsdottir | This Quality Assurance (QA) Review Framework is a critical appraisal tool for HIA. It sets out to ensure that HIA practice in Wales continues to reflect the important values, standards and approaches that have underpinned the development of HIA practice in the country to date. It has been developed as a suite of 3 separate documents. This first document outlines the methodology and provides guidance on how to use the QA review framework. | View resource |
| Quality Assurance Review Framework for Health Impact Assessment (HIA) – Complete | Liz Green, Lee Parry-Williams, Nerys Edmonds | This document has combined the three separate QA documents (below) into one. | View resource |
| Quality Assurance Review Framework for Health Impact Assessment (HIA) (2020 – Interactive) | Liz Green, Lee Parry-Williams, Nerys Edmonds, With contribution from Steinthora Jonsdottir | To be used as an electronic form only. This Quality Assurance Review Framework is a critical appraisal tool for HIA. It sets out to ensure that HIA practice in Wales continues to reflect the important values, standards and approaches that have underpinned the development of HIA practice in the country to date. The Framework has been written to support and guide individuals and organisations to undertake a quality assurance review of a Health Impact Assessment and has been designed as a standalone document. It aims to provide guidance for both commissioners and reviewers of HIAs. | View resource |
| Quality Assurance Review Framework for HIA – Appendix 1 – Review Criteria Matrix | Green L, Parry Williams L, Edmonds N | Appendix 1 is the Review Criteria Matrix. This is presented in a tabulated format to aid recording of the review findings and provide feedback to the commissioners/authors of the HIA. | View resource |
| Quality Assurance Review Framework for HIA – Appendix 2 – Explanatory Notes | Green L, Parry Williams L, Edmonds N | This document provides additional guidance to inform completion of key review criteria. | View resource |
| Recreational Public Open Space SPG (Final) (Denbighshire County Council) | This document is one of a series of Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG) notes amplifying Denbighshire Local Development Plan 2006 –2021 (LDP) policies in a format which aims to guide the process, design and quality of new development. English available only. | View resource | |
| Sample Workshop Presentation | Wales Health Impact Assessment Support Unit (WHIASU) | Relates to the LDP guidance | View resource |
