​Neil Findlay MSP on the Scottish Parliament's health and sport committee's five year vision to improve Scotland's health

The health and sport committee has recently published its strategic plan, a five-year long-term vision setting out how it plans to scrutinise healthcare and sport in Scotland. Strategic plans to me sound a bit like management speak that doesn't mean anything, but I can assure you this is anything but. This plan sets out the committee’s over-riding priority to improve the health of the nation. No party politics, and a straightforward statement and set of principles will guide what we do over the next five years.

For me this sets out clearly what we as a committee want to see as our priority, an improvement in the health of Scotland. There is no doubt that healthcare in Scotland is undergoing profound change, from how social care is being delivered to primary care reform. This affects all from the third sector and healthcare providers to staff and patients.

There is cross party consensus on this committee that the need to eradicate health inequalities needs serious and determined action

Neil Findlay

The plan sets out four key priorities the committee will scrutinise all activity against. The first is an issue I’m sure we all agree needs to be tackled urgently: health inequality. We know that people living in poorer communities have much poorer health outcomes. They are not only living in poorer health for longer but they die sooner. There is cross party consensus on this committee that the need to eradicate health inequalities is serious and we are determined action.

The second is about prevention. There is no doubt that prevention messages and high-profile cases have impacted upon people and how they live their lives – think about lung cancer rates and smoking. But these messages are sometimes not reaching the people who would potentially benefit most. We need to think again about how to ensure that resources gets through to those in our most needy communities.

The third is about long-term cost effectiveness and efficiency. We know budgets are squeezed and the health sector is not immune to this. In all we do we will be expecting to hear about how the NHS’s budget can work better and for longer.

Finally, we will consider how the UK’s exit from the EU will impact upon the health service in Scotland. We want to examine the positive and negative impacts, and as this becomes clearer, the committee will be at the forefront of scrutiny of this issue.

On sport and physical exercise the committee will also be looking at the extent to which access is being widened to all and whether activity is empowering all sections of the community.

Probably most importantly for me is that we have set out in black and white that we want this committee to reach out to people from across Scotland. Last week we heard evidence from social care workers. This was during a breakfast meeting before we heard formal evidence and was immensely helpful. As one person who attended the session said, this provided an “opportunity for our voices to be heard”.

This is exactly why the committee wants to involve not just healthcare leaders and policy makers in its work but people who are working directly at the coal-face. Please do keep in touch with our work – you can follow us on twitter @SP_HealthSport or go to www.parliament.scot and to find out more about our work and how to get involved.

Neil Findlay is an MSP and convener of the health and sport committee.