A partnership for prevention
Partnership logos
Last year, CHEX came together with Edinburgh Community Health Forum, Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland (the ALLIANCE), Scottish Community Development Centre, and Voluntary Health Scotland to form a partnership.
The partnership was formed in the spirit of collaboration and a shared sense of purpose in translating policy into action that meaningfully improves people’s lives, and addresses the issues that they face every day.
The initial statement
In September 2025, the partnership issued a joint statement on the role prevention plays in tackling Scotland’s growing health inequalities crisis, calling for a clear definition and understanding of what prevention means, a properly resourced third sector that is part of a whole systems approach, and increased urgency in how we tackle the ‘hard-to-do’ parts of policy implementation.
We need a clear definition and understanding of prevention
We need a clear, specific, and consistently applied definition of prevention to see this way of working properly applied across all levels of policy delivery. That means resources being allocated to prevention and the impacts of this approach being measured properly to capture the positive impact.
We must put the hard-to-do parts of policy into practice
Tackling the 'hard-to-do' aspects of policy implementation that take us beyond ambition and into reality. That means proper co-production with communities and the third sector, long-term investment, transparency and accountability, courageous leadership, evidence gathering, and working across silos.
We need a whole system approach with a properly resourced third sector
A sustainably resourced third and community sector that is treated as an equal partner in decision making with a public sector committed to working in, and with, communities. Prevention is complex and requires a whole system approach that includes the public, third and community sector - and those who directly experience health inequalities.
There have been positive signs since we published our joint statement that the Scottish Government and other public sector partners are serious about creating a prevention-centred system.
At several meetings with partners over recent months, we have been exploring a range of solutions, including preventative budgeting and greater power-sharing with communities experiencing the impact of health inequalities and the third sector.
Prevention into practice
The positive signs were welcome, however, there is little doubt that the current challenging financial environment puts cross-sector ambitions for this work at risk, and that immediate action to sustainably invest in preventative solutions is needed.
Ahead of the 2026-27 Scottish Budget, the partnership issued a follow-up statement, restating the necessary steps required to tackle the ‘hard-to-do’ policy ambitions related to prevention.
Finding practical and sustainable solutions to the ‘implementation gap’ is essential, and while none of these problems are easy to solve, there are clear paths towards achieving real change.
Where are we now for Scotland’s health and wellbeing?
It has been a year now since the original statement and we have worked collectively with national and local partners and with our networks to make a practical and useful contribution to the implementation of prevention policy across our wider health system.
Scotland is now entering a critical period, with a new parliament and budget decisions on the horizon, as well as local government elections in May 2027.
The partnership has issued an update which reflects on the current progress as we understand it, as well as key measures we think are essential for prevention to take root in Scotland. We are also delighted to welcome Volunteer Scotland and their perspective and contributions to our partnership.