We will improve the patient's journey - from GP surgery to outpatient clinic, from hospital to home. We will strengthen the patient's voice and will work to ensure that patients, and their carers and families, get the response and support they need through every stage of their care. We will tackle the root causes of ill health and will seek radical, innovative ways to improve the health of the people of Scotland. We will promote better health for all by helping people to adopt healthier lifestyles and through effective prevention and screening measures. Getting this right will enable our people to enjoy a better quality of life, to live longer and to stay active and independent.
Good health is an essential part of social justice.
Susan Deacon will co-ordinate across the full range of the Scottish Executive's work to tackle the root causes of ill health and to promote better health. Tackling poverty, reducing inequalities in health and changing lifestyles will be at the core of that approach. By working together with health, local authority, education, voluntary and private sector colleagues we will mount a concerted drive to improve the health of the Scottish people - from birth to old age. Scottish NHS Net will link all GPs' surgeries and hospitals by the end of 1999, and thereafter it will be extended to pharmacists. In 2000 we will publish a full report on Scotland's leading edge work on clinical outcomes and quality.