Resources

Welsh Health Equity Solutions Platform (WHESP)

The Welsh Health Equity Solutions Platform will act as a repository of information, case studies, and previous interventions used to help combat inequity and share good practice in Wales.
The platform features searchable data tools and a report-generating function which allows users to input their search terms and produce outputs related to those terms. The platform also offers a spotlight feature that can be used to highlight particular solutions or themes.
The team will develop the platform over time to add additional content and features.

International Horizon Scanning and Learning Summary Calendar 2022/23

This International Horizon Scanning and Learning Summary Calendar is the third in the series, following the Summary Calendars from 2020/21 and 2021/22. This Summary Calendar has collated, synthesised, and presented a clear and concise synopsis of the five International Horizon Scanning Reports over the past year, since April 2022 through to March 2023. In addition, the two summary reports (published in 2022) are included. The International Horizon Scanning and Learning work stream has proved to showcase informative and impactful research whilst collating data from other countries and has provided guidance, recommendations, and useful insights regarding the evolving nature and uncertainties of emerging public health topics, which has sought to improve and inform such actions and approaches in Wales.

The summary aims to inform a succinct overview of comprehensive, coherent, inclusive and evidence-informed policy action, which has supported and continues to support the national strategies towards a healthier, more equal, resilient, prosperous and globally responsible Wales. This calendar includes key messages and key recommendations from the high level synthesis pages of each International Horizon Scanning report.

Themes include:
• Intermediate care
• The cost of living crisis
• COVID-proofing the educational environment: 4-18 years
• Early childhood education and care
• Communication campaigns for vaccine acceptance
• The impact of COVID-19 on mental health and increasing vulnerability
• The impact of COVID-19 on increasing the health gap and vulnerability

IHCC Progress Report 2018-22

This report outlines the International Health Coordination Centre’s (IHCC) progress in driving and enabling implementation of the Charter for International Health Partnerships in Wales (the Charter) across the NHS over the last four years. It also provides examples of international health partnership working from across the Health Boards and NHS Trusts. The report highlights the IHCC’s plans and aspirations for the future, in supporting a healthier, more equal, globally responsible, resilient and prosperous NHS in Wales.

The report highlights the IHCC’s role, achievements, ways of working, collaborative structures and activities; and outlines the evolution of the IHCC in relation to global, UK, national and local developments. These include challenges and opportunities such as the UK withdrawal from the European Union (‘Brexit’), the COVID-19 pandemic and the ‘cost of living’ crisis. It demonstrates the tools used to enable shared learning, facilitate cross-NHS and cross-sector synergies, and maximise benefits to the health and well-being of the people in Wales and beyond.

International Horizon Scanning and Learning Report: Communication campaigns for vaccine acceptance

The International Horizon Scanning and Learning reports were initiated as part of the COVID-19 public health response, to support dynamic response and recovery measures and planning in Wales. In spring 2022, the scope of the reports was expanded to cover priority public health topics, including in the areas of health improvement and promotion, health protection, and health care public health.

In focus: Communication campaigns for vaccine acceptance

The Cost-of-Living Crisis: Implications for Public Health and the Identification of Solutions report

The report summarises learning from the World Health Organisation (WHO) All-Regions for Health Network (RHN) webinar facilitated by the WHO Collaborating Centre at Public Health Wales on the 21st of September 2022.

International Horizon Scanning and Learning Report: Early childhood education and care

The International Horizon Scanning and Learning reports were initiated as part of the COVID-19 public health response, to support dynamic response and recovery measures and planning in Wales. In spring 2022, the scope of the reports was expanded to cover priority public health topics, including in the areas of health improvement and promotion, health protection, and health care public health.

In focus: Early childhood education and care

Understanding health inequalities in Wales using the Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition method

Throughout Wales and the world, health inequality remains a problem that is interconnected with a wider and complex social, economic and environmental dynamic. Subsequently, action to tackle inequality in health needs to take place at a structural level, acknowledging the constraints affecting an individual’s (or community’s) capability and opportunity to enable change. While the ‘social determinants of health’ is an established concept, fully understanding the composition of the health gap is dependent on capturing the relative contributions of a myriad of social, economic and environmental factors within a quantitative analysis. The decomposition analysis sought to explain the differences in the prevalence of these outcomes in groups stratified by their ability to save at least £10 a month, whether they were in material deprivation, and the presence of a limiting long-standing illness, disability of infirmity. The analysis not only quantified the significant health gaps that existed in the years leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it has also shown what determinants of health were most influential. Understanding the factors most closely associated with disparities in health is key in identifying policy levers to reduce health inequalities and improve the health and well-being across populations.

Social Return on Investment (SROI) of mental health related interventions—A scoping review

Social Return on Investment (SROI) is a methodological approach which incorporates all three aspects for evaluating interventions. Mental health problems are one of the leading causes of ill health and disability worldwide. This study aims to map existing evidence on the social value of mental health interventions that uses the SROI methodology. This scoping review is a first of its kind to focus on SROI of mental health interventions, finding a good number of SROI studies that show a positive return on investment of the identified interventions. This review illustrates that SROI could be a useful tool and source of evidence to help inform policy and funding decisions for investment in mental health and wellbeing, as it accounts for the wider social, economic, and environmental benefits of public health interventions.

Toward an economy of wellbeing: The economic impact of the Welsh healthcare sector

Population health and wellbeing is both a result, as well as a driver, of economic development and prosperity on global, European, national and sub-national (local) levels. In this paper, the economic importance of the healthcare sector to the Welsh economy is explored. We use a large number of data sources for the UK and Welsh economy to derive an economic model for 2017. We estimate output, income, employment, value-added, and import multipliers of the healthcare sector. Results suggest that the healthcare sector has an above average contribution in four explored economic aspects of the Welsh economy (output, income, employment, value-added), according to its impact on the surrounding economic ecosystem.

International Horizon Scanning and Learning Report: COVID-proofing the educational environment: 4-18 years

The International Horizon Scanning and Learning reports were initiated as part of the COVID-19 public health response, to support dynamic response and recovery measures and planning in Wales. In spring 2022, the scope of the reports was expanded to cover priority public health topics, including in the areas of health improvement and promotion, health protection, and health care public health.

In focus: COVID-proofing the educational environment: 4-18 years

Facilitators, Barriers and Views on the Role of Public Health Institutes in Promoting and Using Health Impact Assessment—An International Virtual Scoping Survey and Expert Interviews

Public health institutes have an important role in promoting and protecting the health and well-being of populations. A key focus of such institutes are the wider determinants of health, embracing the need to advocate for ‘Health in All Policies’ (HiAP). A valuable tool to support this is the health impact assessment. This scoping study aims to support public health institutes to advocate more successfully for the use of health impact assessments and HiAP in order to promote and protect health, well-being and equity. It highlights the enablers and barriers to the use of HIA in the contexts of the participants and suggests some actions which PHIs can take and Units they can learn from. The results from this study can serve as a platform to help build knowledge, networks and expertise, to help support a ‘Health in All Policies’ approach and address inequalities which exist in all societies.

Cost of health inequality to the NHS in Wales

There are wide inequalities in health and healthcare use between people living in more deprived neighborhoods and those living in less deprived neighborhoods in Wales. Tackling health inequality through a combination of health promotion and early intervention policies targeted toward deprived communities could yield substantial improvement in health and wellbeing, as well as savings for the Welsh NHS.

International Horizon Scanning and Learning Report: The Cost of Living Crisis

The International Horizon Scanning and Learning reports were initiated as part of the COVID-19 public health response, to support dynamic response and recovery measures and planning in Wales. In spring 2022, the scope of the reports was expanded to cover priority public health topics, including in the areas of health improvement and promotion, health protection, and health care public health.
In focus: Cost of living crisis

Exploring the social value of Public Health Institutes: An international scoping survey and expert interviews

Making the case for investing in preventative public health by illustrating not only the health impact but the social, economic and environmental value of Public Health Institutes is imperative. This is captured by the concept of Social Value, which when measured, demonstrates the combined intersectoral value of public health. This research can inform future work to understand how to measure the holistic social value of Public Health Institutes, in order to strengthen institutional capacity and impact, as well as to achieve a more equitable society, and a more sustainable health system and economy, making the case for investing in public health, as we recover from COVID-19.

Influencing the Health Gap in Wales: Decomposition analysis discussion paper

The aim of this discussion paper is to help inform further policy action and potential solutions in order to reduce the health gap in Wales and beyond.
It provides a snapshot of the health inequalities experienced by different population groups in the years leading up to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, applying an innovative statistical methodology, a ‘Decomposition analysis’.

The paper attempts to quantify the health gap in Wales, as well as to provide a better understanding of its main drivers across the five essential conditions for healthy prosperous lives for all, using a novel World Health Organization framework. It uses three measures of self-reported health: 1) the prevalence of fair/poor health; 2) the prevalence of low mental well-being; and 3) the prevalence of low life satisfaction, comparing these between:
• Those who are able to make a saving of at least £10/month and those who are not;
• Those who report being in material deprivation and those who do not; and
• Those who report a limiting longstanding illness, disability or infirmity and those who do not.

The analysis has generated an insight into the drivers of health inequities, identifying those which contribute the most, namely ‘Social and Human Capital’ and ‘Income Security and Social Protection’; while ‘Health Services’ has accounted the least. However, systematic differences are able to explain less than half (<50%) of the health gaps for the majority of the health outcomes, based on the statistical models.

The paper highlights the need for a basket of policy and investment decisions, prioritising the key drivers of health inequity, in consensus across sectors. Further exploration and engagement with experts, stakeholders, relevant groups and communities is essential to improve understanding of the health equity gap and its drivers.

It hopes to inform the following national and international stakeholders:
• Public health professionals
• Public policy makers and budget holders on national and local levels
• Statisticians, health scientists and data analysts
• All those who have a role in influencing the health equity gap in Wales and further afield

International Horizon Scanning and Learning to Inform Wales’ COVID-19 Public Health Response and Recovery Summary Calendar UPDATE April 2021 – March 2022

International Horizon Scanning and Learning: Summary Calendar UPDATE
This International Horizon Scanning and Learning Summary Calendar is an update from the previous Summary Calendar which can be found here and covered the period of April 2020 through to March 2021. This Summary Calendar has collated, synthesised and presented a clear and concise summary of the COVID-19 International Horizon Scanning Reports over the past year, since April 2021 through to March 2022. The International Horizon Scanning and Learning work stream has proved to showcase informative and impactful research whilst collating data from other countries and has provided guidance, recommendations and useful insights regarding the evolving nature and uncertainties of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has sought to improve and inform such actions and approaches in Wales. The summary aims to inform a succinct overview of comprehensive, coherent, inclusive and evidence-informed policy action, which has supported and continues to support the national strategies towards a healthier, more equal, resilient, prosperous and globally responsible Wales. This calendar includes key messages and key recommendations from the high level synthesis page of each International Horizon Scanning report.

International Horizon Scanning and Learning Report: Intermediate care

The International Horizon Scanning and Learning work stream was initiated as a product of, and to inform upon, the evolving COVID-19 public health response and recovery plans in Wales. In spring 2022, the scope of the reports has been expanded to cover priority public health topics, including in the areas of health improvement and promotion, health protection, and health care public health. This report focuses on intermediate care.

These reports were used during the period of the Covid 19 pandemic in order to inform the Public Health Wales response and therefore only available in English.

International Horizon Scanning and Learning – Summary Report on The Impact of COVID-19 on Mental Health and Increasing Vulnerability

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed challenges to societies, health systems and decision-makers worldwide and has resulted in long-term economic, social and health and well-being impacts. Mental health has been negatively affected across all-age groups exacerbating existing health inequalities.
This report reviews and summarises the international evidence from the International Horizon Scanning and Learning reports on the direct and indirect impact of COVID-19 on mental health, mental health services and increasing vulnerability.

International Horizon Scanning and Learning to Inform Wales’ COVID-19 Public Health Response and Recovery – March 2022

The International Horizon Scanning and Learning work stream was initiated as a product of, and to inform upon, the evolving COVID-19 public health response and recovery plans in Wales. It focuses on COVID-19 international evidence, experience, measures and transition/recovery approaches, to understand and explore solutions for addressing the on-going and emerging health, wellbeing, social and economic impacts (potential harms and benefits).
Topics of focus are:
– COVID-19 vaccination equity
– COVID-19 excess mortality

These reports were used during the period of the Covid 19 pandemic in order to inform the Public Health Wales response and therefore only available in English.

International Horizon Scanning and Learning – Summary Report On the impact of COVID-19 on increasing the Health Gap and Vulnerability

This report reviews the international evidence from the International Horizon Scanning and Learning reports on the direct and indirect impact of COVID-19 increasing the health gap. It focuses on inequalities and vulnerable groups to better understand and address the unequal distribution of indirect impacts resulting from the pandemic.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented challenges for populations, health systems and governments worldwide which have resulted in lasting economic, social and health impacts. Health inequities have been exacerbated, with certain population groups disproportionately affected by levels of infection, hospitalisation and deaths from COVID-19. Furthermore, some groups have also experienced unequal indirect impacts resulting from the pandemic and the measures undertaken to contain it. Underlying factors contributing to the unequal impact of the COVID-19 pandemic include but are not limited to, level of deprivation, education, health status and financial resources.

International Horizon Scanning and Learning to Inform Wales’ COVID-19 Public Health Response and Recovery – 27 January 2022

The International Horizon Scanning and Learning work stream was initiated as a product of, and to inform upon, the evolving COVID-19 public health response and recovery plans in Wales. It focuses on COVID-19 international evidence, experience, measures and transition/recovery approaches, to understand and explore solutions for addressing the on-going and emerging health, wellbeing, social and economic impacts (potential harms and benefits).
Topics of focus are:
– The impact of Covid-19 on children

These reports were used during the period of the Covid 19 pandemic in order to inform the Public Health Wales response and therefore only available in English.

International Horizon Scanning and Learning to Inform Wales’ COVID-19 Public Health Response and Recovery – 17 December 2021

The International Horizon Scanning and Learning work stream was initiated as a product of, and to inform upon, the evolving COVID-19 public health response and recovery plans in Wales. It focuses on COVID-19 international evidence, experience, measures and transition/recovery approaches, to understand and explore solutions for addressing the on-going and emerging health, wellbeing, social and economic impacts (potential harms and benefits).
Topics of focus are:
– COVID-19 scientific advice to governments
– The impact of COVID-19 on ethnic minority groups

These reports were used during the period of the Covid 19 pandemic in order to inform the Public Health Wales response and therefore only available in English.

Cost of Health Inequality to the NHS in Wales. Report 1: Cost Associated with Inequality in Hospital Service Utilisation

This report aims to estimate the financial cost associated with inequality in hospital service utilisation to the NHS in Wales to help inform decision-making and resource prioritisation towards prevention and early intervention through an equity lens, contributing to COVID-19 sustainable and inclusive recovery.
The report is accompanied by an interactive dashboard, allowing users to explore in detail, the costs associated with inequality by service category, sex, age and level of deprivation.
Please note, the dashboard is optimised for use on desktop devices.

International Horizon Scanning and Learning to Inform Wales’ COVID-19 Public Health Response and Recovery – 25 November 2021

The International Horizon Scanning and Learning work stream was initiated as a product of, and to inform upon, the evolving COVID-19 public health response and recovery plans in Wales. It focuses on COVID-19 international evidence, experience, measures and transition/recovery approaches, to understand and explore solutions for addressing the on-going and emerging health, wellbeing, social and economic impacts (potential harms and benefits).
Topics of focus are:
• Winter 2021/22 COVID-19 planning
• The impact of COVID-19 on older people

These reports were used during the period of the Covid 19 pandemic in order to inform the Public Health Wales response and therefore only available in English.

International Horizon Scanning and Learning to Inform Wales’ COVID-19 Public Health Response and Recovery – 15 October 2021

The International Horizon Scanning and Learning work stream was initiated as a product of, and to inform upon, the evolving COVID-19 public health response and recovery plans in Wales. It focuses on COVID-19 international evidence, experience, measures and transition/recovery approaches, to understand and explore solutions for addressing the on-going and emerging health, wellbeing, social and economic impacts (potential harms and benefits).
Topics of focus are:
– COVID-19 vaccine update
– The impact of COVID-19 on people from the LGBTQ+ community

These reports were used during the period of the Covid 19 pandemic in order to inform the Public Health Wales response and therefore only available in English.

International Horizon Scanning and Learning to Inform Wales’ COVID-19 Public Health Response and Recovery – Summary Calendar

This Summary Calendar has collated, synthesised and presented a clear and concise summary of the COVID-19 International Horizon Scanning Reports over the past year, since April 2020 through to March 2021. The International Horizon Scanning and Learning work stream has proved to showcase informative and impactful research whilst collating data from other countries, providing guidance, recommendations and useful insights regarding the evolving nature and uncertainties of the COVID-19 pandemic.

International Horizon Scanning and Learning to Inform Wales’ COVID-19 Public Health Response and Recovery – 10 September 2021

The International Horizon Scanning and Learning work stream was initiated as a product of, and to inform upon, the evolving COVID-19 public health response and recovery plans in Wales. It focuses on COVID-19 international evidence, experience, measures and transition/recovery approaches, to understand and explore solutions for addressing the on-going and emerging health, wellbeing, social and economic impacts (potential harms and benefits).
Topics of focus are:
– Re-opening of educational settings
– COVID-19 and people with a disability

These reports were used during the period of the Covid 19 pandemic in order to inform the Public Health Wales response and therefore only available in English.

International Horizon Scanning and Learning to Inform Wales’ COVID-19 Public Health Response and Recovery – 12 August 2021

The International Horizon Scanning and Learning work stream was initiated as a product of, and to inform upon, the evolving COVID-19 public health response and recovery plans in Wales. It focuses on COVID-19 international evidence, experience, measures and transition/recovery approaches, to understand and explore solutions for addressing the on-going and emerging health, wellbeing, social and economic impacts (potential harms and benefits).
Topics of focus are:
The impact of COVID-19 on vulnerable groups
Mental health service recovery from COVID-19

These reports were used during the period of the Covid 19 pandemic in order to inform the Public Health Wales response and therefore only available in English.

Using health impact assessment (HIA) to understand the wider health and wellbeing implications of policy decisions: the COVID-19 ‘staying at home and social distancing policy’ in Wales

This paper focusses on a HIA of the ‘Staying at Home and Social Distancing Policy’ or ‘lockdown’ in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Wales conducted by the Welsh national public health institute. It describes the process and findings, captures the learning and discusses how the process has been used to better understand the wider health and well-being impacts of policy decisions beyond direct health harm. It also examines the role of public health institutes in promoting and using HIA.

International Horizon Scanning and Learning to Inform Wales’ COVID-19 Public Health Response and Recovery – 22 July 2021

The International Horizon Scanning and Learning work stream was initiated as a product of, and to inform upon, the evolving COVID-19 public health response and recovery plans in Wales. It focuses on COVID-19 international evidence, experience, measures and transition/recovery approaches, to understand and explore solutions for addressing the on-going and emerging health, wellbeing, social and economic impacts (potential harms and benefits).
Topics of focus are:
The impact of COVID on employment security
Recognition of long COVID
Country insight: Japan

These reports were used during the period of the Covid 19 pandemic in order to inform the Public Health Wales response and therefore only available in English.