Scottish Executive keeps
community services for long-term
conditions in its sights
Developing community-based services for
people with long-term conditions will remain
a central aim of the Scottish
Government’s future health policy. How to
achieve this is one of the themes in a consultation published last week.
Launching the consultation, Nicola
Sturgeon, Health and Wellbeing Secretary,
said: “We want to open a wide-ranging discussion
about our key objectives and the best
means to achieve them.
“Today’s document describes the building
blocks of our approach and demonstrates our
commitment to engagement and involvement
in everything we do. It will allow the
public and patients to help shape the action
plan [on health] we intend to publish in
December.”
The consultation includes sections on improving
patients’ experience of care, maximising
efficiency, tackling health inequalities and
improving services for long-term conditions.
Within the document, the Government confirms
its plans to abolish prescription charges
and protect local access to health services.
Pharmacy is mentioned in a policy aim
which promises to “improve access to health
services by developing the services offered in
primary care and community hospitals, encouraging
more flexible opening hours
amongst GP practices and providing walk-in
access to a wider range of services through
community pharmacies”.
The consultation, “Better health, better
care”, is open until 12 November 2007.
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The
Pharmaceutical Journal
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