Community-Led Health
Community-Led Health is a main plank of ‘Improving Health in Scotland – The Challenge’. Implemented in 2003, this document is still Scottish Goverment Health Department's key policy document on health improvement and cross references with more recent health policies such as ‘Delivery for Health’ (2005).
In addition to taking forward ‘Community-Led’ approaches, the ‘Challenge’ also prioritises three other themes - Early Years, Teenage Transition and the Workplace.
From November 2004 to December 2006, the Community-Led: Supporting and Developing Healthy Communities Task Group worked to raise awareness and assist embedding community-led approaches at a local level. Its main objectives were to:
- Develop in collaboration with the then-Scottish Executive and other key partners an approach, strategy and action plan for the community-led plank of the ‘Challenge’
- Engage in a capacity building process to enable local, regional and national stakeholders to be involved in the process of informing a strategy.
- Work closely with the then-Scottish Executive and other partners to support effective action on key elements of the approach within the overall ‘Challenge’ policy
The Task Group has brought together a range of material and made 12 Recommendations aimed at:
- building a strong evidence base
- improving planning and integration,
- enhancing capacity building
- addressing long-term sustainability of community-led initiatives
The Recommendations were endorsed by both the Minister for Health and Minister for Communities in Dec. 2006. Subsequently, the Community-led Health Implementation Group was formed to take forward the Recommendations. In partnership with Voluntary Health Scotland, CHEX has responsibility to lead on three of the recommendations.
To download a Summary of the Recommendations ,click here and latest e-Newsletter, produced by NHS Health Scotland, click here.
