Public Health Scotland (PHS) is the national public health body for
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
. It is a Special NHS Health Board, and it is jointly accountable to the
Convention of Scottish Local Authorities
The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) is the national association of Scottish councils and acts as an employers' association for its 32 member authorities.
History
Formed in 1975, COSLA exists to promote and protect the intere ...
(COSLA) and the
Scottish Government. Fully exercising its functions from 1 April 2020 as Scotland's leading national agency for improving and protecting the health and well-being of all of Scotland's people, it is jointly sponsored by COSLA and the Scottish Government, and collaborates with
third sector organisations.
Its role is to increase healthy life expectancy and reduce premature mortality. Areas of focus are COVID-19, mental health and well-being, community and place, and poverty and children.
The board's first chief executive is Angela Leitch, formerly chief executive of
East Lothian Council
East Lothian Council is one of the 32 local government councils in Scotland covering the East Lothian area. Since the last boundary changes in 2017, 22 councillors have been elected from 6 wards.
History
East Lothian District Council had been ...
.
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Origins
The board arose from a reorganisation of public health in Scotland, outlined in the 2015 Review of Public Health and further developed in the 2016 Health and Social Care Delivery Plan. Public Health Scotland came into existence on 7 December 2019 under the Public Health Scotland Order 2019 and then property, rights and liabilities were transferred to it on 1 April 2020.
A predecessor,
Health Protection Scotland
Health Protection Scotland (HPS) is the organisation that co-ordinates health protection in Scotland. It is part of Public Health Scotland.
HPS took over the functions of the Scottish Centre for Infection and Environmental Health (SCIEH) in Nove ...
, continues to operate as part of Public Health Scotland. PHS also took over the functions of NHS Scotland's
Information Services Division
The Information Services Division (ISD) is the part of NHS Scotland that provides health information, health intelligence, statistical information and analysis. ISD is part of the Public Health and Intelligence Strategic Business Unit of Public He ...
, providing statistics and data analysis.
See also
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Health in the United Kingdom
Health in the United Kingdom refers to the overall health of the population of the United Kingdom. This includes overall trends such as life expectancy and mortality rates, mental health of the population and the suicide rate, smoking rates, a ...
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List of national public health agencies
This list of national public health agencies includes national level organizations responsible for public health, infectious disease control, and epidemiology. Many are represented in the International Association of National Public Health Insti ...
References
External links
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{{NHS Scotland
Directorates of the Scottish Government#Health and Social Care
Executive agencies of the Scottish Government
Government agencies established in 2020
Health in Scotland
Public health in the United Kingdom
NHS Scotland
2020 establishments in Scotland
National public health agencies