Impact assessment
Like all public sector organisations, NHS Lothian is required to assess the impact of all its policies, services and functions on equality. This means that we must try to predict what will happen to different groups of people affected by our work, and then make changes to our plans so that any possibility of a negative impact is reduced or eliminated.
To do this, NHS Lothian uses a procedure called Rapid Impact Assessment on all of its new and existing policies, strategies and services. The Rapid Impact Assessment tool looks at what might happen to the following groups of people if a policy or plan is implemented:
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minority ethnic people (including Gypsy/Travellers, refugees & asylum seekers)
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women and men
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people in religious or faith groups
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disabled people
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older people, children and young people
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lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people
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people on a low income
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people with mental health problems
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homeless people
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people involved in the criminal justice system
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staff
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carers
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Other groups of people as appropriate.
Where there is likely to be a significant impact, we will carry out a more detailed Equality Impact Assessment using the same tool but focusing in more detail on particular equality questions. In certain circumstances we carry out very detailed Equity Audits to find out how a service is meeting the needs of a particular disadvantaged group of people. We also conduct Health Impact Assessments on proposals that are likely to have a wider impact on health.
Please download a copy of our Rapid Impact Assessment Toolkit and Guidance.
Our approach to Equity Audits is explained in our Health Inequalities and Equity Audit document. Our recent Equity Audits include the Diabetes Equity Audit document.
Consulting on impact assessments
NHS Lothian is required to consult with people on the findings of its impact assessments We do this to make sure that we have not missed anything out in our discussions, This happens in two ways:
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Consultation with certain groups with an interest in equality issues. We train these groups in how we carry out impact assessments so that they can give us as effective feedback as possible.
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A standard period of at least three months during which an impact assessment is published on the internal and external websites for people to provide comments.
The people and groups consulted with, where appropriate, are listed in the impact assessment report.
Impact assessments out for consultation
Completed impact assessments
These are the impact assessments NHS Lothian has completed recently. For impact assessments completed before this period please get in touch with NHS Lothian at Waverley Gate, 2-4 Waterloo Place, Edinburgh EH1 3EG telephone 0131 536 9000.