This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Health Service progress report
14/12/2001
Much hard work over the last year at national and local
level has resulted in improvements to the NHS in Scotland,
but there is still much more to be done to raise standards
and build services around the needs of patients, Health
Minister Malcolm Chisholm said today.
His comments came as he marked the first anniversary of
the publication of the Scottish Health Plan
Our National Health with a report highlighting
some of the progress made over the past 12 months.
Mr Chisholm said:
"Improving health and the health service in Scotland is
a massive challenge, not just for the Executive, but for
everyone involved, including the NHS, local authorities,
the voluntary sector, communities and individuals.
"We set out last year in the first ever Scottish Health
Plan a radical and ambitious programme for the NHS. A plan
to create an NHS focused tightly on patients needs, and
which has the patient at its heart. And working with the
dedicated staff within the NHS, we have made progress on
that Plan.
"Over the last year, we have:
- re-established the principle of a truly
National Health Service based on national
standards of care and national priorities, delivered
locally
- fashioned a sharper agenda of fewer, better defined
priorities
- stepped up record levels of investment in the
NHS
"But huge challenges still remain. Waiting times are
still too long. Concentrated action is needed to address
our three national clinical priorities: cancer, coronary
heart disease and mental health. There are also challenges,
in some parts of the country, around the recruitment and
retention of key staff like nurses. We cannot and should
not duck these difficult issues.
"There are many areas identified in the Scottish Health
Plan that still need work. We need to drive forward with
urgency the implementation of the Cancer Strategy. More
work is needed on mental health, to tackle the anxiety and
depression which contribute to a much wider community
health problem. We also need to work harder at persuading
children and young people to adopt healthy lifestyles, good
diet, and regular exercise. Another area is tackling
alcohol misuse, although we will be coming forward soon
with an action plan for this.
"But we have brought an end to the fragmentation and
division left over from the NHS internal market with the
creation of the new NHS Boards. We now have a system which
is better able to respond to meet ever increasing demands
and public expectations.
"The new system means the NHS Boards are clearly
accountable for their performance - in improving health and
health services and not just in financial prudence. This
new structure also means that that when we have to, we can
and will act decisively to address serious failings - as we
have already demonstrated in Tayside, and more recently
with the Beatson in Glasgow.
"The challenge over the next year is to deliver further
improvements, faster, to drive down waiting and provide a
wider range of services with the patient at their
heart.
"Yesterday's announcement of a new national Waiting
Times Co-ordination Unit is the latest step in our action
to tackle waiting. Only through this kind of concerted
effort, working in partnership with NHS Boards across
Scotland, and working with the dedicated staff within the
NHS, will we speed delivery on our objectives."
Over the last year, progress includes:
- publishing the first comprehensive Cancer Strategy
for Scotland backed by a £40 million national cancer
investment plan
- driving on with the biggest hospital building
programme in the history of the NHS in Scotland,
bringing 8 new hospital developments on stream by
2003
- continuing with targeted investment in more doctors
and nurses for NHS Scotland, including an additional
£11.5 million investment to employ 375 more junior
doctors by 2003