February 04, 2008: Patient-friendly version of Better Health, Better Care published
Publication of Better Health, Better Care: Action Plan: What It Means For You
A patient-friendly version of Better Health, Better Care - the Scottish Government's Action Plan for health and wellbeing has been published. The report's publications was announced today by Nicola Sturgeon, Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing at the launch of Better Together: Scotland's Patient Experience Programme.
December 17, 2007: Workforce Planning report published
Release of Better Health, Better Care: Planning Tomorrow's Workforce Today
This report outlines the Scottish Government's strategic direction for developing workforce planning.
December 12, 2007: Action Plan published
Release of the Better Health, Better Care: Action Plan
November 13, 2007: Consultation Closed
The 12 week consultation on Better Health, Better Care: A Discussion Document has now closed. During the consultation, over 2,000 people attended discussion sessions and nearly 600 submissions were received. These responses are now being analysed and will inform the development of the Action Plan which will be published later in the year.
November 5, 2007: World Café in Aberdeen
Shona Robison, Minister for Public Health opened the second World Café event which was held in Aberdeen on 5 November 2007. A report of the two World Café events will be published shortly.
October 23, 2007: World Café in Glasgow
The first of two World Café events was held in Glasgow on 23 October 2007. The event began with a speech by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing, Nicola Sturgeon MSP.
October 16, 2007: Better Health, Better Care - Easy read version
October 3, 2007: Better Health, Better Care World Café Events
September 11, 2007: Better Health, Better Care Newsletter
August 16, 2007: Shaping Scotland's Health and Wellbeing Action Plan
Launching the discussion document Better Health, Better Care in Glasgow on 16 August, Ms Sturgeon, the Health and Wellbeing Secretary 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."