What we do
Health Scotland's overall aim is to provide leadership and work with partners to improve health and reduce health inequalities.
By increasing knowledge, from evidence of effectiveness and need to public awareness of important health messages, Health Scotland is helping to build a healthier future for everyone living in Scotland.
Quick links for this page:
Meeting 'The Challenge'
Key aims and work areas
Hosting of national agencies
Priorities for 2007-2008
Working with Scotland's health boards
Learning from Keep Well pilots
Working with other partners
International collaboration summary
Meeting 'The Challenge'
In 2003, the Scottish Executive published its vision for a socially, physically and mentally healthier Scotland. Improving Health in Scotland – The Challenge (external link) sets out a range of priorities for action designed to make this a reality. More recently, this agenda has been advanced further by the commitments detailed in Delivering for Health (external link) (2005).
Health Scotland is co-ordinating efforts to support delivery of these priorities with our partners in the NHS, local authorities and community planning partners.
Key aims and work areas
Our overall aim is to provide leadership and work with partners to improve health and reduce health inequalities in Scotland. This can be broken down into four key areas of work, as detailed in our strategy map
1. Advancing understanding of Scotland's health and how to improve it
Some examples of our work in this area:
We commission and carry out a wide range of research activities investigating the underlying causes of poor health and health inequalities in Scotland.
As a key partner in the healthyliving (external link) campaign we are involved in providing sources of information and advice to the general public about healthy living, particularly around diet and physical activity.
2. Informing health improvement policy and planning
Some examples of our work in this area:
A key priority for us this year is commissioning work to assess the impacts of The Licensing (Scotland) Bill reforms on population health.
We are also engaged in work to review the Child Safety Action Plan and The Scottish Diet Action Plan.
Perspectives on Health Improvement
This document comprises four essays that were commissioned in Spring 2007. They were intended to provide a range of independent perspectives from experts (both within and outside Scotland) on the current and future challenges that Scotland faces in achieving its goals of improving health and reducing health inequalities, and to offer suggestions on how best to tackle these challenges, based on the authors’ expertise and experience. The authors were invited to be critical and challenging. The paper was submitted as part of the Better Health, Better Care consultation.
3. Increasing competence and capacity to deliver
Some examples of our work in this area:
We provide a wide-ranging programme of learning and development opportunities aimed at those involved in health improvement, local government and the voluntary sector.
We lead and support a number of networks such as the Public Health Network and are taking forward a number of projects that will increase our knowledge and understanding of the factors that affect health.
4. Improving the dissemination of evidence, learning and good practice
Some examples of our work in this area:
We support several networks for the dissemination of learning and good practice, including the Physical Activity and Health Alliance (external link) (PAHA), the Food and Health Alliance and the Healthy Environment Network (HEN).
In addition, we have also recently published a series of Evaluation Guides to help build the capacity of managers and others to more effectively evaluate interventions.
Overview of Directorates
Health Scotland is divided into four Directorates, each with their own responsibilities and areas of operation:
Chief Executive Office
This Directorate includes corporate support functions including Corporate Communications and Policy and Planning.
Programme Design and Delivery
This Directorate covers programmes of health improvement based in settings and across healthy living topics and related functions in marketing. It also oversees the workforce development of the health improvement workforce in Scotland.
Public Health Sciences
This Directorate covers public health programmes. The teams within this Directorate manage a diverse range of information and research functions, networks and developments.
Resources
This Directorate oversees the delivery of core corporate functions including Finance, Health and Safety, Procurement, Data Protection, Information Management and Technology, Estates and Facilities management. It leads the development of the organisation’s financial strategy, operating across all areas of the organisation’s business to achieve best value.
Hosting of national agencies
Another important aspect of our work is in the hosting of units that provide support in specific health improvement areas. Currently, these are The National Resource Centre for Ethnic Minority Health (external link) (NRCEMH) and The Scottish Centre for Healthy Working Lives (SCHWL).
From April 2006, the remit of The Scottish Centre for Healthy Working Lives has been expanded to include the functions of Scotland Against Drugs, which has now been dissolved.
Priorities for 2007-08
Each year, our delivery plan outlines what we aim to achieve over the coming year and how we intend to achieve it.
Our overarching strategic objectives are to provide national support and leadership in delivering health improvement outcomes and in reducing inequalities in health. The plan is designed to:
- explain our strategic direction and why we have structured the plan this way
- be clear about our priorities and what we are aiming to achieve in 2007/08
- set useful and measurable outcomes
For more information on our organisational priorities for this period, please see our Delivery Plan.
Working with Scotland's Health Boards
In keeping with our priorities for the period, a central part of our work for this year lies in supporting Health Boards to achieve their health improvement targets, as set by the Scottish Executive and laid out in their local delivery plans.
Learning from Keep Well pilots
Keep Well is the Scottish Executive's commitment to strengthen and enhance primary care services in deprived areas and to reduce inequalities by targeting health improvement action in the most deprived areas.
Accordingly, the Keep Well pilots are another key area of focus for Health Scotland during this year. Learning from the pilots will be used to inform further development of local partnerships through support for Community Health Partnerships (CHPs) and Community Planning Partnerships (CPPs).
Working with other partners
Health Scotland works closely with a range of national partners including The Confederation of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA), Communities Scotland, the Food Standards Agency, Community Health Exchange (CHEX) and Voluntary Health Scotland (VHS).
We work closely with the Scottish Health Promoting Schools Unit (SHPSU) to further whole-school approaches to improving pupil and staff health and well-being and with partners in the community and voluntary sector at both the local and national level.
International Collaboration
We continue to review the best ways that Health Scotland can provide support to our partners.
At the international level, we are partners of the World Health Organization's European Health Promoting Hospital movement.
For more information on our international work, please visit our page on International Collaboration.