Sick Britain: A call for mandatory Health Impact Assessments across government with the support of a dedicated ‘Health in All Policies’ support unit

Health is affected by a wide range of factors, from income, employment, and education, to pollution, access to green space and social networks. Health gaps arise through the unequal distribution of the wider determinants of health. Many of these factors are outside the direct control of the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC). Working cross-government for health improvement is likely to lead to better designed and implemented policies which improve every aspect of society. A Health in All Policies (HiAP) approach describes how health and health equity can be improved through embedding consideration of health in multi-sector decision making. Health Impact Assessments (HIAs) are a mechanism for delivering an HiAP approach across national and local governments, creating the conditions for healthy lives.