A partnership of third and community organisations, including Voluntary Health Scotland, have come together to set out the urgent action required to achieve the prevention-centred system needed to tackle Scotland’s growing health inequalities crisis.
Published jointly by Edinburgh Community Health Forum, Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland (the ALLIANCE), Scottish Community Development Centre, and Voluntary Health Scotland, the statement comes as major policies and frameworks have set out prevention as a key approach to how public services should operate.
Preventative approaches mean identifying and tackling root causes before negative outcomes occur. For health inequalities, that means dealing with the underlying causes that see some people in our communities experiencing less time in good health.
To achieve this, the statement sets out the importance of:
A clear definition and understanding of prevention
We need a clear, specific, and consistently applied definition of prevention if we’re to see this way of working properly applied across all levels of policy delivery. That means resources being allocated to prevention and the impacts of this approach being measured properly to capture the positive impact.
Putting the hard-to-do parts of policy making into practice
Tackling the ‘hard-to-do’ aspects of policy implementation that take us beyond ambitions and into reality. That means proper co-production with communities, long-term investment, transparency and accountability, courageous leadership, evidence gathering, and working across silos.
A whole system approach with a properly resourced third sector
A sustainably resourced third and community sector that is treated as an equal partner in decision making with a public sector committed to working in, and with, communities. Prevention is complex and requires a whole system approach that includes the public, third and community sector – and those who directly experience health inequalities.
We welcome the renewed prevention policy intent from Scottish Government and COSLA but stress it is now crucial that these ambitions are translated – without delay – into specific, fully resourced, and measurable actions at the national and local levels.
We call for an approach that honestly and courageously acknowledges the precarious state of our public, third and community sectors. We need to explicitly address the more challenging elements like investing in – and sharing power with – the third and community sector, and most importantly the individuals and communities experiencing the real life, day to day impact of poverty and health inequalities.
Click here to access the joint statement
Prevention case studies:
- Primary prevention: Befriending Caithness
- Primary prevention: Positive Futures Edinburgh
- Primary prevention: Positive Steps Aberdeenshire
- Secondary prevention: Branching Out Carr Gom
- Secondary prevention: Care for Carers Edinburgh
- Secondary prevention: Community Link Workers, Clackmannanshire
- Secondary prevention: Pilmeny Development Project
- Secondary prevention: Room for Art, Art in Healthcare
- Tertiary prevention: PLUS Perth and Kinross
- Tertiary prevention: Rowan Alba Communities
- Tertiary prevention: Self Management Fund
For more information about this statement or any of the case studies, please contact our Policy and Public Affairs Lead, Sarah Latto, by emailing sarah.latto@vhscotland.org.uk.
