Unhealthy living continues in Scotland

A recent report compiled by Glasgow University, which I am sure many of you will have read about in the press, provides yet more compelling evidence that unhealthy living in Scotland continues to exist at unacceptable levels.

The researchers identified the five key factors which contribute most to ill health in richer countries: smoking, excessive drinking, poor diet, physical inactivity and obesity.

The report stated that a shocking 97% of Scots had one or more of the risk factors. 55% had three or more whilst a staggering 20% had either four or all five factors.

Perhaps the results are not surprising, but they do serve to reinforce the critical need to improve the state of the nation’s health. We must never forget that behind these statistics is a terrible human and economic cost. It is incredible, to say the least, that in this day and age, in a modern Western European country, men and women in some parts of Glasgow die younger than those in poor, developing countries.

In my view, all of this simply serves to underline the primary role of community pharmacy in Scotland in tackling these issues be that by providing healthy living advice and support through public health services or by helping patients manage chronic conditions through CMS.

I think community pharmacists in Scotland are fortunate that the SEHD and Scottish politicians do recognise that pharmacies have a unique and important role to play in providing primary healthcare services and helping people to avoid becoming ill in the first instance. There is a recognition that a patient’s healthcare path does not begin and end at the GP surgery or hospital. Indeed, arguably, the greatest measure of success is that people do not end up at the GP surgery because early interventions at their local pharmacy has had an impact and changed their lives for good.

The reality is that for many people the GP surgery is a place you go when you are ill. That may sound blindingly obvious, but if the grim statistics referred to previously are to be reversed then the focus has to shift to preventing ill health arising in the first place. In that context community pharmacy plays a vital and pivotal role: people will and do access healthcare advice and support from a pharmacy in a manner which few would consider, rightly or wrongly, doing so from a GP surgery.

I recognise that given the UK’s budget problems money is going to be tight in the years ahead and despite what politicians say I am sure health budgets will come under considerable strain.

I hope, however, that a commitment to tackling Scotland’s health issues will lead to even more services and support (and hence budget) being directed towards community pharmacy. Only then will we begin to see tangible results.

And the proof is there. In Glasgow alone, in 2009, 5000 people used the smoking cessation service available from pharmacies in the city. Rates of unwanted teenage pregnancies have fallen significantly since EHC was made available at pharmacies.

Clearly there are serious health problems which need to be addressed. I think community pharmacy has been, and should increasingly be, at the frontline of efforts to tackle those problems. For our part, at AAH, we will continue to do our utmost to support community pharmacy to meet the challenges which lie ahead.