Health impact assessments urged in Budget submission

George McNeice, IMO CEO

By Gary Culliton.

All Budget measures should be subject to Health Impact Assessments, the IMO has urged in its latest pre-Budget submission.

Health Impact Assessments should also be carried out on all new Government policies at “design, implementation and review stages,” the union said.
The organisation’s pre-Budget submission highlighted a number of issues that it said needed to be addressed, in order to achieve an integrated system of primary and hospital care. Among issues the union highlighted were the need for a Minister of Public Health and a National Public Health Executive Agency. There should be ring-fenced funding for public health, in the IMO’s view.
The union has called for a renewed focus on, and investment in, child health promotion and services, and has called for the provision of 24-hour crisis care, which “is associated with a reduction in suicide rates, with the biggest falls in deprived catchment areas”.
Among a range of other measures, the IMO is urging that a range of population measures and targeted interventions be adopted, which “can impact positively on mental health and help-seeking among young people”.

gary.culliton@imt.ie