Why a Scottish Health Council?

The Scottish Executive’s vision for the future of the NHS is one in which the views and experiences of patients and the public drive improvements in the quality of health services. By exploring the experiences of patients, and enabling patients and the public to influence the design and delivery of health services, the NHS will become more responsive to the needs and concerns of patients and more accountable to local communities.

A lot of good work has already taken place. The former Local Health Councils and other organisations have been working in partnership with the NHS to ensure that patient and public involvement leads to increased satisfaction with services and improved outcomes for patients. However, following lengthy consultation the Scottish Executive decided that:

patient and public involvement needs to become part of the mainstream business of improving health services
patients and the public should speak for themselves wherever possible, with appropriate support
Local Health Councils were appointed and supported by the NHS Boards whose performance was being judged, thus there was no independent analysis of how they were performing.

The Scottish Health Council has been established in order to address these issues.