Commenting on the Chief Medical Officer’s annual report , Dr Brian Keighley, Chairman of the BMA in Scotland said:

“This report shows that we are making good progress on tackling some of Scotland’s biggest killers. This is, in part, due to the introduction of the new GP contract in 2004 and focuses on disease prevention and management of patients at risk of conditions such as CHD and stroke*. The contribution of general practice is often undervalued and I hope that government can recognise and value the potential for GPs and their teams to further reduce the death toll from these killer diseases.

“Across Scotland as a whole life expectancy is increasing. But there is still a significant gap in life expectancy between the richest and poorest of society. Work must be done to narrow this gap and to reduce inequalities that exist in opportunity as well as in health. Securing good health for all members of society will require sustained cross-departmental policy development. The BMA believes that all policies should be subject to a health impact assessment as a practical measure to close the health inequalities gap.

“The Chief Medical Officer is right to focus on children today. Behaviours adopted in childhood will carry through into adulthood. It is therefore important to give children a healthy start in life, teaching them life skills that will help them to make the right and healthy choices. While education is important, there is a role for government to put in place measures to ensure that we have, for example, safe communities where children can have go outside to play, and parents should have access to cheap and healthy foods to encourage a better diet. Legislation to deter children from taking up smoking are very welcome and will hopefully become enshrined in law in 2010 and we need to face up to the scourge of alcohol on our society and take on the challenge to reduce availability and access to alcohol, particularly by youngsters.

“There is much to be proud of in Scotland and our improvement in health is certainly one of them. I hope that with strong leadership and a positive outlook, Scotland can rid itself of the ’sick man of Europe’ image and become a progressively healthier place to live.”

Source
The British Medical Association Scotland