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The aim of the NHS in Scotland is to improve the health of the people of Scotland. Promoting better health, helping to prevent illness, and providing the best treatment and continuing care when needed, will help improve the quality of life for everyone.
The NHS is doing this by:
The NHS promotes health by giving people information and support so that they can make choices about their own health and lifestyle, and get the help they need to change.
The NHS is also working in partnership with organisations in every Health Board area, such as local authorities, companies, schools and community and voluntary groups to create a climate that encourages good health, and to provide practical help for those most in need. The NHS is addressing the underlying causes and social effects of ill health by contributing to a wide range of initiatives such as Social Inclusion Partnership, Listening to Communities and Working for Communities Programmes, Healthy Living Centres and New Community Schools.
Providing and promoting screening and immunisation is also important in preventing ill health.
The majority of people receive their NHS health care from their GP and other health staff working in the community such as nurses, midwives, health visitors, dentists, community pharmacists, optometrists, dieticians, chiropodists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and speech therapists. To bring even more health care closer to patients the range of services available in the community is being extended.
The NHS works in partnership with other organisations to provide help, as far as possible in the community.
Some people need special help. This should be provided whenever it can be in their own homes. If residential care is needed, it should be in a homely setting in the community.
Much of this support is provided by local authority social work departments and voluntary and private organisations. The job of the NHS in Scotland is to meet the health needs of people whether that care is best provided in the community or in hospital.
Changes in the role of hospitals and in the services they provide, such as more day case surgery, and improvements in the way people are treated, mean that most patients can stay a shorter time in hospital and still get effective and more convenient treatment for their conditions as an outpatient or a day patient.
Basic to all the work of the NHS is:
The dignity, values and cultural beliefs of patients and their families are important and must be respected.
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