Prevention Under Pressure: The state of community-led health in Scotland
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At this critical time for the sector, a new report highlights concerning findings from engagement and survey research with community-led health organisations across Scotland.
Published by the Scottish Communities for Health and Wellbeing, The Alliance, and CHEX, the findings show organisations facing unprecedented demand, increasing complexity, and crisis-level need, exacerbated by shrinking resources.
High level strategies, such as the Population Health Framework, name community-led services as central to prevention. Yet despite the seemingly-favourable policy environment, the financial backing for prevention is lacking, with organisations delivering key prevention work being defunded or treated as non-essential.
This is happening despite the fact that these groups are filling gaps left by statutory services, providing important services and supporting the most vulnerable in our communities, while being excluded from key decision-making processes.
Groups also report that cross-sector working relationships are deteriorating, not improving. 54% of the 67 groups surveyed report worsening relationships with public health partners over the past three years, and 69% feel their capacity and resources are misunderstood.
Yet partnership is possible. Most community-led health organisations want better relationships and know that with long term sustainable funding and mutual respect, joint working can succeed.
It is clear is that the current system isn’t working. This report is a snapshot of the challenges the sector has experienced over the past three years, but the question is what we do about it now, and how we can strengthen relationships and come together to address these challenges.
Read the full report on the SCHW website
Read a discussion of the findings in more detail from Dr Lisa Garnham at the University of Strathclyde