Published: 16 February 2007
Radical Health Checks in Scotland
A £10 million new wave of radical preventative care programmes is to go live later this year, helping make the NHS more local than ever, the Scottish Executive has announced, with services being developed in south Glasgow, Aberdeen, Fife, North and East Ayrshire, Inverclyde and West Dunbartonshire.
The move expands on an initial wave of programmes which was announced in October 2006. Keep Well services are already operating in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and North Lanarkshire.
Speaking in advance of a parliamentary debate on local health services, Health Minister Andy Kerr said:
"We are moving from a culture of treating ill-health to preventing it, as locally as possible.
This means targeting resources where they are needed most and designing services which are easier for the public to use.
Keep Well is a new and ambitious approach to engage with people who have not traditionally made best use of health services - reaching out to those who may be at risk and learning wider lessons for the NHS.
I am delighted that a further wave of Keep Well services will become operational later this year.
These enhanced services will mean more direct and targeted interventions than ever before.
These will be world leading services, aimed at those with high risk factors such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, poor diet, smoking, alcohol misuse and inactive lifestyles.
Services will aim to offer appointments in evenings and weekends to ensure there are no barriers to access, outreach workers will contact patients through phone calls and other means."
Background:
This is the second wave of the programme announced by Health Minister Andy Kerr in November 2005 (programme name now changed from Prevention 2010 to Keep Well).
The first wave of services are located in five Community Health Partnership areas in the four NHS Board areas which have the largest populations in the 15% most deprived areas of Scotland, as identified by the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation - Glasgow (North and East), Lanarkshire, Dundee, and Edinburgh.
The aim of the programme is to increase the rate of health improvement in deprived communities by:
· enhancing primary care services to deliver anticipatory care
· identifying & targeting those at particular risk of preventable serious ill-health
· offering appropriate interventions & services to them, and
· providing monitoring and follow-up
This followed a commitment to provide such services in Delivering for Health, the Executive's long-term vision for the NHS.
People who may be at risk of heart disease will be invited to attend a health check looking at factors such as blood pressure, diabetes and cholesterol, as well as lifestyle issues such as smoking, diet, alcohol and weight management.
For those who need it, treatment & services as well as regular monitoring and follow-up across a range of community providers will be available.
The services will benefit from the new SIGN cardiology guidelines for the NHS in Scotland, which for the first time consider deprivation as a risk factor when determining treatment.
The programme will be nationally evaluated and the learning disseminated before extending the approaches to primary care services for all those at risk of preventable ill health across Scotland.
Over the next two years, the Scottish Executive will invest:
· £1 million in Grampian to develop the Keep Well approach to deprived areas in Aberdeen City
· £2 million in Fife
· £2 million in Ayrshire & Arran
· £5 million in Greater Glasgow and Clyde
As part of the agreements in place with Boards, the Keep Well services will be mainstreamed & funded by local partners following the initial two-year Executive funding.
Further information
Keep Well
Scottish Executive – Improving Health in Scotland
SIGN CHHD and Stroke guidelines
Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation
Delivering for Health
Scotland's Health on the Web (NHS Scotland)
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