A National Clinical Strategy for Scotland - Summary

Why do we need a national clinical strategy?

NHSScotland is a success story. It provides healthcare to all, free at the point of need, and has made steady progress in challenging the big health problems our country faces, like cancer, heart disease, stroke and mental illness. It has one of the most skilled workforces in the world and a proud tradition of education, training and ground-breaking research.

But there are challenges that need to be faced if we are to meet our aim of having a world-class health service for the future.

Our population is growing older, and some older people will need increasing amounts of health and social care. More people are living with long-term conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer and dementia, each of which requires ongoing treatment and care. And we still have a high level of health inequality - a person living in the most socially deprived community in Scotland can expect to live at least 10 years less than someone living in a well-off area.

All of this means that demand for health and care services will increase over the next 15-20 years. That demand will have to be met within the resources - financial and human - NHSScotland has at its disposal.

So the Strategy has been developed to set out how we can change our services to meet the demand and ensure we get the best possible value from the resources invested in the NHS.