Health Gap Identified

The health of some of the poorest people in Fife is in decline, according to new research.

The Royal College of Nursing in Scotland says that's despite a ban on smoking in public places and campaigns to reduce alcohol consumption.

27% of people who responded to a YouGov survey, on behalf of RCN Scotland, said funding for services aimed at reducing health inequalities should be prioritised.

Other findings are:

-  Half of people think health inequalities are inevitable

-  63% of people think funding for services that reduce health inequalities should be prioritised only if effects on other health and social care services are minimal

-  36% of people think nurses/health and care staff should have the most say in services designed to improve the health of people in disadvantaged communities, as opposed to 5% who think it should be politicians

Theresa Fyffe, Director of RCN Scotland said:

"Instead of further discussion on the possible causes of health inequalities, action needs to be taken now to improve the health and lives of people living in Scotland's worst-off communities. This is not just because it's the right thing to do – it will also save money: Audit Scotland estimates that if the death rate in the most deprived groups in Scotland improved around £10 billion would be saved. There are many examples of nurses working alongside other health and social care professionals to provide services that are designed around the needs of individual people. These services, though, are often the victims of short-term funding and cuts. We want to see the NHS and councils working together to implement more of these services and put them on a sustainable footing – especially as one of the key objectives of the new health and social care integration partnerships is to reduce health inequalities. This is a deep-seated problem that requires time and commitment to be put right."

The need for sustainable support for initiatives aimed at people on the margins of society is backed up by Sheila Cron, a recently retired community nurse: 

"I have seen many a community project set up with a short term pot of money. These projects often take time to become established but are suddenly stopped because either they do not produce the results quickly enough or their money runs out. This leaves communities at best upset, or at worst disillusioned with public services. Those providing funding, whether they are health boards, councils or the Scottish Government, have to understand that community work has to come from the grassroots and these services have to do what the people using them want rather than what the funders want. Not only that, enough time has to be given for people to come on board and for the service to have an impact."

Theresa Fyffe then continued:

"It is clear from the poll carried out by YouGov that people trust health care staff to make the right decisions by the people they work with much more than they trust politicians. So, we'd like a commitment from our national politicians to let local people get on with the job. They should not criticise from the sidelines when a health board, council or new integration authority makes a decision, based on sound evidence, to prioritise investment in a service aimed at people living in our most disadvantaged communities over those for our better-off communities. Some of these decisions will be hard to swallow, especially given that most people want funding for services aimed at reducing health inequalities to be prioritised only if other services are not affected. However, when times are tight, this is not always going to be possible.

"Providing long-term sustainable funding for such services is also a necessity. This way we would have a chance of improving the lives of people living in the harshest of circumstances and actually start closing the gap in health between the best-off and worst-off in Scotland’s society."