Sarah Latto, VHS Policy and Public Affairs Lead, reflects on her first three weeks in post including the publication of the Population Health Framework and the Service Renewal Framework this week.
Today marks exactly three weeks since I joined Voluntary Health Scotland as the Policy and Public Affairs Lead, and what a three weeks it has been! To say the learning curve has been steep would be an understatement.
Early priorities
Top of my priority list so far has been kicking off our work on developing a VHS Manifesto ahead of the 2026 Scottish Parliament election. This has proven to be a very timely opportunity to get up to speed with our members and key stakeholders on their key priorities – thanks to those who have engaged so far. There will be more opportunities to engage further with this work in the coming weeks, including a survey and a series of workshops throughout July. Get involved!
I’ve also been taking the time to do a bit of inward reflection, asking some of the important questions about our policy voice and where we sit in the wider landscape. Together with my colleagues, we’ve agreed that our biggest policy asset is our members and stakeholders. As such, we’ll seek to amplify your experiences through our policy work, whilst also deferring to your specific expertise as appropriate.
Population Health Framework
This week has also marked the launch of two very important documents for VHS and our members – the Population Health Framework and the Service Renewal Framework.
VHS hosted three events for members to feed into the development of the Population Health Framework so it is great to see the final product with the views of our members and stakeholders reflected throughout. In particular, it’s fantastic to see prevention at the centre of the framework, with recognition of the varied yet interconnected drivers of health and wellbeing. This is reinforced in actions focused on investing in preventative approaches, embedding prevention in both local and national decision-making, and improving accountability for primary prevention.
The explicit acknowledgement of the need to build a resilient and sustainable community and voluntary sector in the Population Health Framework is also encouraging. This is further reinforced in the Sector Summary for the community and voluntary sector, published separately, which recognises that voluntary organisations are ‘uniquely placed to address prevention, positively promote health and wellbeing and to tackle health inequalities’. It also states that the ‘vital’ role of the third sector can be promoted by ‘encouraging other system leaders to recognise the role of the sector as an equal partner in decision-making and service planning’.
Many of our members have experienced considerable challenges in recent years with chronic under-funding and this stems from a systemic failure to recognise the third sector as an equal partner in health creation. It is hoped that the prioritisation of prevention in the Population Health Framework will provide a positive first step in addressing this.
Given our role facilitating the Scottish Community Link Worker Network, we are delighted to see the commitment to develop a National Social Prescribing Framework – another development VHS have been advocating for in recent years. At VHS we have seen firsthand the valuable role that Community Link Workers play in promoting health creation in local communities across Scotland, referring people to a range of activities which support their health and wellbeing. However, much of the Network has experienced funding uncertainty in recent years. A National Social Prescribing Framework has the potential to sustain, and scale up, community link working as a proven model.
Finally, whilst it is true that promoting healthy weight is priority for improving population health, it is perhaps a bit disjointed to have it as a standalone initial priority. Many of the challenges around diet and healthy eating, alongside most other determinants of health, are rooted in economic inequality. Focusing solely on healthy weight seems like a missed opportunity to prioritise wider health inequalities and address the damaging effects of poverty.
Service Renewal Framework
The five principles for renewal set out in the Service Renewal Framework are encouraging, specifically the focus on prevention, people and community. The inclusion of digital as principle is also welcome, particularly given the important future role of technology detailed in the Future Trends for Scotland report also published this week. Maintaining the balance between solutions that are digital and people-led will be key as this framework is implemented, and this was reflected in a question our Chief Executive, Tejesh Mistry, posed to the First Minister on Monday. Community-based and person-centred services are so important for addressing health inequalities and breaking down barriers to accessing primary care.
Our members have shared their frustrations at the postcode lottery that often exists in the provision of services across Scotland. As such, the ‘Once for Scotland’ approach is welcome, particularly the commitment to deploy more resources in community settings. However, the beauty of the third sector is in how it has developed organically, often in response to local or community needs. It is important that the intersectional needs of specific places or communities are not overlooked in the drive for efficiency.
Lastly, the commitment to improve accountability is particularly promising and will be a glimmer of hope for many of our members. For too long there has often been a disconnect between policy and implementation within the health system, particularly when it comes to resource decisions. It’s exciting to see a clear commitment to shared outcomes and new approaches to commissioning based on this.
Conclusion
As with all government frameworks, the proof will be in the (healthy) pudding. The Population Health Framework and the Service Renewal Framework look great in theory but will take considerable resource and collaboration to implement in practice.
It is likely that our 2026 manifesto asks will reflect many of the commitments in these two frameworks, along with some more ambitious recommendations for addressing health inequalities and promoting health creation in Scotland.
Along with my colleagues at Voluntary Health Scotland, I look forward to working with Public Health Scotland and the Scottish Government, now and in the future, to implement this vision in practice.
To ensure you are kept in the loop with our policy work in future, make sure you join VHS as a member, and sign up for our monthly Policy news!
