Listen
Healthy Start for kids at school
11/12/2008
Pilot projects aimed at improving children's health by providing targeted health-related services at school were unveiled today as the first Equally Well implementation plan was published.
The first children's health and wellbeing support pilot gets underway in South Ayrshire in January, followed by others in Moray, West Lothian and Clackmannanshire.
Public Health Minister Shona Robison also announced the roll out of Keep Well checks - which aim to identify people at risk of heart disease, diabetes or strokes - to more parts of Scotland.
The plan highlights progress made to date to implement the recommendations of Equally Well and outlines what further progress is expected over the next two years.
Ms Robison said:
"An early start is the best start when it comes to building a healthy lifestyle and tackling the health inequalities which can blight too many lives. The health and wellbeing support pilots will help many more youngsters get a healthy start in life.
"At the other end of the age spectrum, nearly 40,000 people have already received a Keep Well check. Expanding the programme means more of the most vulnerable people - in more parts of Scotland - will benefit.
"Equally Well set an ambitious and challenging agenda and we are committed to rising to this challenge. This radical rethink of how we deliver public services is designed to ensure that they meet the needs of everyone in Scotland, particularly those from deprived communities."
Chief Medical Officer Harry Burns said:
"Tackling health inequalities is vital if we are to improve the health and life chances of all Scots, particularly those from our most disadvantaged communities.
"Equally Well is an innovative strategy which I believe can make a real difference. The challenge for all of us now is to turn the strategy into action on the ground. The implementation plan outlines how this will happen and is an important step forward in this process."
Councillor Ronnie McColl, COSLA's health and wellbeing spokesman, said:
"Over the course of the past year, COSLA, the Scottish Government and other partners have worked hard to create a new approach to combating health inequalities. That approach, I would contend, is extremely courageous. It is courageous because we recognise that change is generational and that we won't have solved this problem by the next election.
"But we also have a strong sense of what needs to be done and the implementation plan sets this out. We will use Single Outcome Agreements to support the redesign public services and shift the emphasis from dealing with consequences of health inequalities to preventing them in the first place. That is our challenge and my hope is that over the coming months and years we will come closer to realising that goal."
Dorothy Gair, development officer for the children's health and wellbeing support project, said:
"The school health and wellbeing support pilots are designed to provide additional healthcare support in schools, alongside school nurses.
"Adopting a multi-disciplinary approach - using, for instance, dieticians and speech therapists - we can ensure that all children are getting the help they need for a healthy start in life."
Margaret Douglas, Consultant in Public Health at NHS Lothian, said:
"Over the past two years in Edinburgh alone almost 12,000 people have had a Keep Well health check, and have received the advice and support to improve their health and enhance their wellbeing.
"We are delighted to be able to expand this service so that more people may benefit. We believe this project will go some way to reducing the inequalities in health we see between different communities across Lothian."
Also published today is Good Places, Better Health which explores the links between environment and health, in a bid to create safe and positive environments for health.