The Widening Health Inequalities Across Scotland

That the Parliament notes its concern at what it sees as widening health and healthcare inequalities across Scotland, including in the Mid Scotland and Fife region; understands that, according to the Scottish Public Health Observatory, Scotland has wide socioeconomic inequalities in comparison with other Western European countries; believes that these are a major driver of the high and growing health inequalities, as measured by indicators such as life expectancy and mortality rates; considers that health inequalities in Scotland on some measures are continuing to widen; acknowledges that, with a reported life expectancy gap of up to 13 years for men and 10 years for women between the most and least deprived areas, what it sees as these unjust, systematic disparities are driven by socioeconomic factors, resulting in significantly lower healthy life expectancy and higher mortality rates for, among others, people in poverty, with drug-related deaths reportedly over 15 times higher in deprived areas; considers that, in the face of this challenge, local health centres and primary care infrastructure across Scotland are facing significant pressure, with numerous projects in need of urgent upgrading, expansion or replacement to meet the demands of growing communities and modern healthcare delivery, including the proposed £13 million new Lochgelly Health Centre and the planned £8 million Kincardine Health Centre, which are, it believes, facing severe delays and uncertainty despite reports of numerous calls on the Scottish Government to take action, and highlights factors such as health inequalities, population growth, an ageing population, new housing developments, service modernisation requirements and environmental standards, which are all, it believes, adding pressure to the requirement for updated healthcare infrastructure, which it considers will, in turn, improve patient outcomes and referrals, move care into communities and provide fit-for-purpose workspaces for vital multidisciplinary teams.