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The health of an individual may be influenced by a wide range of factors such as current socio-economic circumstances, environmental factors, genetics, lifestyle choices and health related behaviours. The provision and quality of health services available to individuals have an important part to play in concert with the services provided by other organisations, to improve the wider public health.
The provision of health care and related services through the NHSScotland was over £5 billion in 1999-00, almost a thousand pounds for every man, woman and child, and in September 1999 around 6 per cent of the total Scottish workforce were employed by NHSScotland.
Over time there have been considerable improvements in many important areas of health care provision. However, there is often quite a difference between the most affluent and the most deprived in our society, both in the incidence of illness and disease and the subsequent recovery rates. Many of the lifestyle factors that impact on health, such as smoking, substance misuse, and drinking to excess vary considerably across that spectrum. This chapter explores some of the key long term health trends.
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