Introduction
The Scottish Health Survey (SHeS) has been carried out annually since 2008 and prior to this was carried out in 1995, 1998, and 2003. Commissioned by the Scottish Government Health Directorates, the series provides regular information on aspects of the public's health and factors related to health which cannot be obtained from other sources.
The current survey contract runs up to and including 2017, and was awarded to ScotCen Social Research.
The Scottish Government is seeking users? views on the future content of the survey from 2018 onwards (procurement subject to Ministerial approval).
Background
SHeS provides a detailed picture of the health of the Scottish population in private households and is designed to make a major contribution to the monitoring of health in Scotland. It is used by the Scottish Government for forward planning, identifying gaps in health services provision and identifying which groups are at particular risk of future ill-health.
The aims of the survey are:
- to estimate the prevalence of particular health conditions in Scotland
- to estimate the prevalence of certain risk factors associated with these health conditions and to document the pattern of related health behaviours
- to look at differences between regions and between subgroups of the population in the extent of their having these particular health conditions or risk factors, and to make comparisons with other national statistics for Scotland and England
- to monitor trends in the population's health over time
- to make a major contribution to monitoring progress towards health targets, including five National Indicators and contributing to one Purpose Target in the National Performance Framework.
