Report to the People
More Money for the NHS
I was not alone when I welcomed the extra money for public services announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, in his Budget last Tuesday.
Although the cash injections for education (£86.6 million), transport (£15.9 million) and the Police (£8.9 million) were very good news, perhaps the most relevant announcement for Inverclyde is the £173 million increase in funding for the NHS.
Gordon Brown has not, to his credit, resorted to the Chancellor’s traditional ploy – that of announcing new money and then muttering something about it not being available for a year or so. This money will not be available by the winter, or the summer, it will be available from this Saturday.
And, for Inverclyde, it cannot come soon enough.
Our public health record is, as I have said many times in the Telegraph, not one of which we can be proud.
A brief glance at how we die points the finger at our suicidal lifestyles. Death rates among men in Inverclyde are way higher than the Scottish average for lung cancer, circulatory and respiratory diseases. Death rates from alcoholic liver disease are 95% above the already poor Scottish average. Hospital admissions for alcohol related problems are 62% higher than the Scottish average.
And so it goes on.
I could probably fill this whole paper with similar, equally abysmal and terrifying health statistics. But just by looking at this selection, we begin to get an appreciation of the scale of the task.
The Scottish Executive is already taking action. Four major national health projects, backed by £15 million of investment, are in place to provide a blue-print for improving children's health, sexual health, cancer and heart disease.
The extra Budget cash will help us build on these measures and tackle the roots of our poor health.
Indeed, the Health Minister, Susan Deacon, last Wednesday announced, at £26 million, the largest investment in health improvement and public health in Scotland's history. Further, Scotland’s share of the extra money generated from the proposed tobacco tax on cigarettes will be spent solely on health.
This is not a quick fix – it is a long-term investment, described as "courageous" by the Royal College of Nursing. And, while extra funds are always welcome, we must also play our part.
We must accept that the lifestyles and habits that are so deeply ingrained in our society are killing us. Our acceptance of change, coupled with the Executive’s Budget-backed commitment to tackle public ill-health, gives us the best opportunity ever to cure the Scottish disease.
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