On July 1st, 1999, the government was established in Scotland and is known as the “Scottish Executive”. The Scotland Parliament is the devolved nation, unicameral legislature of Scotland that supports this executive. The Parliament’s purpose is, “to define, debate, decide and legislate on issues of importance to the people of Scotland. In doing so, it holds the Scottish Government to account and is answerable to the people of Scotland. ” The key values of the Parliament are integrity, accessibility, respect, efficiency and agility.
The cabinets meetings that the have are ran by the first minister, (as of right now, this is Nicola Sturgeon) and the first minister is the leader of the Scottish Government. Due to The Scotland Act set in 1999, there is a four-year cap on the term for each minister. It also states that the election for the parliament will be held on the first Thursday in May at the end of the four-year term. This is a general election and the citizens of Scotland, who are sixteen and older, vote for who they seek will work the best in the 129 seats the parliament is made up of.
In addition to being sixteen, you also have to meet the following criteria: you must be a British or Irish citizen, or a Commonwealth citizen, who has leave to remain in the UK or who does not require leave to remain in the UK, or a citizen of another European Union country. It is super easy to register to vote and you can actually do it online at https://www. gov. uk/register-to-vote. There are two ballots each person votes on. One is for the constituency ballot and the other is the regional ballot. The minister is appointed by the monarch and is voted on by the parliament.
There is no limit on the amount of terms a minister can run, so, Nicola could be the first minister for the rest of her life as long as she keeps getting reelected. She currently has been in the position of first minister since November 19th, 2014. Similar how there are three different political parties in America, (Democratic, Republican and Independent), there are seven different parties in Scotland. These parties are: Scottish Conservative, Scottish Labour, Scottish Liberal Democrats, Scottish National, Scottish Green, Scottish Socialist and Independent.
The parties that are in favor of increasing healthcare are the Scottish National and Scottish Labour Party. Nicola Sturgeon is a member of the Scottish National Party, which can help us because it means that the higher up power cares about the citizen’s health and would be willing to help us make the country healthier. I went to the NHS Scotland website to find information on history of health related issues in Scotland. NHS is the publicly funded healthcare system in Scotland and has been active since 1948 due to the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1947.
NHS was also made for England and Wales. Each one is separately run and have different approaches to health issues throughout the United Kingdom. Health and social care policy and funding are the responsibility of the Health and Social Care Directorates of the Scottish Government. Within the parliament, there are different ministers for diverse aspects of health and typically, these are employees of NHS Scotland. The NHS Scotland is made up of approximately 160,000 staff work across 14 regional NHS Boards, seven Special NHS Boards and one public health body.
Some of Scotland’s healthcare workforce includes nurses, consultants, general practitioners, dentist, pharmacists, allied health professionals, etc. However, there are no workplace wellness professionals of programs in Scotland and that is why I think it is crucial to have these services be brought introduced to this country. Later on in this proposal, I will examine the benefits of what having workplace wellness programs could offer Scotland’s overall health. There hadn’t been much medical history before the NHS was introduced.
The only major event that happened before the NHS was the hospitals that they made in 1939 in the response to World War One. They were constructed to deal with expected civilian air raid casualties and threat of invasion. After the National Health Service Act was passed in 1948, healthcare in Scotland really picked up. Everyone in Scotland finally had free access to a family doctor, prescription drugs, glasses or dentures. In 1954, medical research started showing links between lung caner and smoking. In 1957, interferon (flu vaccinations) was discovered by Alick Isaac and Jean Lindenmann.
In 1958, ultrasound scanners were invented and were saving lives by the thousands. In 1959, the first nursing studies unit was set up. In 1960, the world’s first kidney transplant was preformed which lead to many other major organ transplants were preformed. In 1973, a Chief Scientist Office was created. This office was used strictly for research with furthering medical and health improvements. In 1974, Formal provision of free contraceptive advice and family planning services to all, irrespective of age or marital status. In 1980, the “Black Report” was published.
This report showed the growing health gap between the poor and the wealthy. Also, MRI services started in Scotland. In 1982, the first case of AIDS was identified. In 1988, breast cancer screening was introduced. In 1993, at home healthcare was implemented to help elderly people at home instead of hospitals. This allowed for more hospital vacancy. Also, this was the first time mental health was foreseen as an actual health disorder and treated patients outside of institutions. In 1999, free care was offered to elderly people and Scotland has still kept this in their health laws to this day.
They believed that the elderly shouldn’t have to worry about paying for health care with their age and it is a very “take care of your elders” appreciation. In 2000, the Adults With Incapacity Act (AWIA) was passed. This was the First major piece of legislation by the new Scottish Parliament. In 2005, the National Service Framework was published. This set the tone for Scotland’s health for 20 years and pushed responsibility of peoples health on them on taking care of themselves. In 2006, there was a smoking band placed which made it so citizens could not smoke in public places.
In 2014, Health and Social care integration took a step forward with the Public Bodies Act. By April 1st of 2015, this was brought to the parliament and was passed by the ministers. This act was to make it required to integrate adult health and social care services and can decide whether to include children’s health and social care services into their local integrated arrangements. As you can see, the NHS has successfully added a lot of positive attributions to Scotland’s healthcare system, however, it has not focused on any form of education on how to inform citizens on how to lead a healthier lifestyle.