WIREDGOV

The expectations of patients and the public must be at the heart of decision making in NHS Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon said yesterday.

The Health and Wellbeing Secretary was launching a nationwide discussion document 'Better Health, Better Care' to inform the development of the new Scottish government's health and wellbeing Action Plan, to be published by the end of this year.

Ms Sturgeon said that the government was determined to help people sustain and improve their health, especially in disadvantaged communities, ensuring better, local and faster access to health care across the country.

She said that the new action plan would build on recent success across NHS Scotland, but take the opportunities offered by a more streamlined and integrated approach to government to build services around the particular needs of individuals.

Over the next 12 weeks, the discussion would help to inform the way, amongst other things, in which the Scottish government will:

• Step up efforts to tackle health inequalities, including the impact of chronic liver disease, suicide, drug misuse and violence on young men
• Develop community services for people with long term conditions
• Increase the accountability of health services through direct elections to NHS Boards and a greater voice for patients and their carers in the design and delivery of services
• Extend entitlement to school meals and targeted early interventions to give Scottish children the best possible start in life
• Improve the quality of services, including the introduction of new waiting times guarantees that are appropriate to needs

Ms Sturgeon said:

"We are determined to help the people of Scotland sustain and improve their health. This is particularly true in our disadvantaged communities. In everything we do, we want to ensure better, local and faster access to health care right across Scotland.

"We know that Scotland faces significant health improvement challenges, in life expectancy and long-term conditions for example. There are other challenging areas where progress is being made, like heart disease.

"But where we must place particular focus is the widening health gap between the richest and poorest people in our society. This is not acceptable in any country, but is particularly unacceptable in a country as rich as Scotland.

"Our biggest challenge is to break the intergenerational cycle of ill health. Our Action Plan will place particular emphasis on preventing the same problems occurring in future generations as have blighted past and current generations."

The new Action Plan will seek to accelerate the process of change set out in the 2005 'Building a Health Service: Fit for the Future' document. On the need to involve the Scottish public in shaping the plan, Ms Sturgeon added:

"We must do all we can to put the expectations of people at the heart of decision making in NHS Scotland.

"The challenges set out in the 2005 report continue to face us today, but as well as maintaining momentum we must also shift the balance of care to reflect new insights, evidence and experiences which have emerged in the past few years.

"In order to deliver our strategic vision, we need to improve patients' experience of care; secure best value for our investment; encourage everyone to take responsibility for their own health and wellbeing; focus on tackling health inequalities in everything we do; provide better anticipatory care and improve services for long term conditions; give children the best start in life; and ensure continuous improvement in services.

"We want to open a wide-ranging discussion about our key objectives and the best means to achieve them. Today's document describes the building blocks of our approach and demonstrates our commitment to engagement and involvement in everything we do. It will allow the public and patients to help shape the Action Plan we intend to publish in December."

Responses are sought by November 12, and responses and views will be considered as part of the development of an Action Plan for Health and Wellbeing, to be published by the end of the year

'Better Health, Better Care: A Discussion Document'