Public Health Scotland today hosts its first full Annual Review

Public Health Scotland (PHS) will today host its first full Annual Review since its creation in April 2020.

The NHS Annual Review is the formal process through which health boards publicly review their achievements and challenges over the year, and outline future plans.

Reflecting PHS’s joint sponsorship, the annual review meeting will be co-led by the Scottish Government joint Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health, Maree Todd, and the COSLA Health and Social Care Spokesperson, Councillor Stuart Currie.

The meeting will examine PHS’s performance in a number of areas, including supporting Scotland’s response to COVID-19, organisational change, strategic direction, and making best use of resources across the public health system.

Angela Leitch, Chief Executive of PHS, said:

“Over the last 12 months PHS has continued to be at the forefront of managing the COVID-19 pandemic whilst continuing to deliver on Scotland’s six public health priorities. We have produced a wealth of data, intelligence and evidence which has been used by a broad range of partners. Working with both national and local government has enabled us to bring our national expertise to support place-based services aimed at improving the health and wellbeing of communities. This has helped to preserve and protect health, as well as tackle issues such as poverty, poor mental health and problem drug use with demonstrable impact.

“We have great examples of purposeful partnerships across public services and the third sector which are strengthening a wider understanding of the role we all have to play, individually and collectively, in improving the health and wellbeing of the people of Scotland".

Angiolina Foster, Chair of PHS, said:

“PHS has played a significant part in Scotland’s response to COVID-19 at a time of great challenge as a new organisation. For that I’d like to thank staff for delivering crucial work under pressure.

“As we enter into a new phase of the pandemic under the Scottish Government’s plans to live safely with COVID-19, PHS will be able to work more fully on the wider determinants of health to improve population health and tackle health inequalities. In doing so we are committed to achieving our long term aims of embedding a world-class public health system and creating a Scotland where everybody thrives”.

For more information, read our annual and corporate reports.