Comment on Healthy Life Expectancy 2022-2024

Today the National Records of Scotland published new data on Healthy Life Expectancy, 2022-2024. This revealed that people in Scotland are spending a greater proportion of their life in poor health than in previous years. 

Commenting, Professor Andrew Elder, President of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, said:

The news that healthy life expectancy has fallen again in Scotland and that clear differences relating to socioeconomic status persist will disappoint many but surprise few. Our College has consistently highlighted the problem of health inequalities in Scotland and the need for a properly integrated health and social care service.

It is important that all political parties in Scotland do now appear to be committed to a much stronger focus on prevention. In time, appropriately targeted preventative strategies, commencing early in life, have the potential to both narrow inequalities and to extend healthy life expectancy again.

However, all such preventative strategies will take time to enact and much longer to have measurable impact on demand for health care. With our population still aging, Scotland must now grasp the nettle of social care reformation and redesign. Failure to do so will see inevitably increasing numbers of people living with multimorbidity, disability and dependency, but lacking the basic day to day support that they will need to retain any degree of independence in their communities. We urge all political parties in Scotland to face this reality in their forthcoming manifestos.

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Link to National Records of Scotland data: Healthy Life Expectancy, 2022-2024 - National Records of Scotland (NRS)