WIREDGOV

The Long-Term Monitoring of Health Inequalities (October 2010) report was published today by the Scottish Government.

Minister for Public Health and Sport Shona Robison said:

"This report shows that health inequalities are a significant challenge in Scotland, with the poorest in our society dying earlier and experiencing higher rates of disease.

"This is a long term problem, it cannot be solved overnight and it will take generations to see a change but we are committed to tackling this.

"Our linked social policy frameworks Equally Well, the Early Years Framework and Achieving Our Potential set out our long-term plans to tackle these inequalities. They have already had a successful impact on peoples lives and this is set to continue.

"We believe that the only way to deal with health inequalities effectively is to address the underlying causes - issues such as negative early years experiences, poverty, unemployment, and poor physical and social environments.

"We plan to see a move from costly crisis management services towards services that work to prevent future ill health and other unequal outcomes. In today's tough economic times we need to be as efficient as possible and that means maximising our investment in the health of the Scottish people. The NHS makes an important contribution to this. Health programmes like Keep Well give targeted health check-ups for those aged 45-64 in our most deprived areas. To date, nearly 85,000 individuals have received a Keep Well health check."

Related Information