Better Health For All

As Scotland’s Minister for Public Health and Wellbeing, I am under no illusion about the public health challenges our country faces.

One of the things that struck me when I was first appointed was the shocking variation in life expectancy across our communities, a difference sometimes measured in decades. This is simply not acceptable in a wealthy country where we have the tools to do something about it.

I am determined we tackle this and Scotland’s entrenched health inequalities. Different government departments, the wider public and third sectors all have a significant role to play. In this blog I will outline my approach and some of the action the Scottish Government, COSLA and partners across the public and third sectors are taking.

Whole system approach

Those working in areas that impact on health and wellbeing must combine their efforts and work together to address the most complex issues affecting people and communities. For example, if we want to help someone who misuses drugs to recover, we have to address factors such as employment, mental health and social isolation. If we want to tackle entrenched problems such as housing, homelessness, knife crime and addiction, this can’t be done in isolation. Complex problems require collaborative and integrated approaches.

Human rights

Fundamental to a genuinely whole systems approach is being absolutely committed to protecting, respecting and realising human rights. Scotland has a proud history of recognising and supporting the rights of people. I am determined that we build on this and put human rights approaches in all we do to strengthen public health.

Key principles

The Scottish Government and COSLA have agreed key principles to public health reform:

• reducing inequalities
• collaboration and engagement
• prevention and early intervention
• empowering communities
• fairness and equality
• intelligence and innovation

These are not abstract ideals, they genuinely inform and shape everything we do.

Public Health Priorities for Scotland

In June, the SG and COSLA published our Public Health Priorities. This was an important moment, and the true impact of this statement of consensus may not be appreciated for some years. The priorities are an agreement that we must focus on and embed the following in all we do:

• places and communities
• early years and young people
• mental wellbeing
• alcohol, tobacco and drugs
• a sustainable and inclusive economy
• healthy weight and physical activity

Legislation, strategies and action plans

We have taken action and outlined our approaches to specific areas of public health, and there is more to come. Highlights include:

• Alcohol – we introduced the world-leading Minimum Unit Pricing policy and later this year we will publish a refreshed Alcohol Preventative Framework
• Substance misuse – our new strategy will also be published later this year, highlighting the need for services to respect everyone’s right to health
• Mental health – our Mental Health Strategy states clearly that we must treat mental health with the same commitment as physical health. We have backed this with an extra £250 million in the 2018/19 Programme for Government
• Physical activity – our physical activity delivery plan, published in July, sets out how we will to help people be more active, more often, and our ambition to cut inactivity by 15% by 2030
• Diet and healthy weight – our wide-ranging delivery plan, published this summer, set the goal to halve child obesity by 2030. We are consulting on plans to restrict promotion of foods such as crisps, sweets and chocolate

Scotland’s new public health body

The next key milestone in our reforms is the establishment of the new national public health body, Public Health Scotland. It will have influence across Scotland, be visible in providing expertise, support and leadership, and it must engage and be available to organisations, communities and the public.

Crucially, Public Health Scotland will be jointly accountable to both Scottish Government and Local Government, reflecting the joint, integrated approach that is key to tackling Scotland’s public health challenges.

Together, the establishment of Public Health Scotland, the Public Health Priorities for Scotland and a commitment to working in partnership underpin our ambitions for reform. Working together we will realise our ambitions and improve the health and wellbeing of our population.

Written by Joe FitzPatrick MSP, Minister for Public Health and Wellbeing. You can follow Joe on Twitter @JoeFitzSNP