A fairer healthier Scotland – leading for change

Scottish Government will today host a seminar on human rights based approaches to health and social care, in partnership with NHS Health Scotland, the Scottish Human Rights Commission, the Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland (the ALLIANCE), and the University of Strathclyde Centre for Health Policy. The purpose is to bring senior civil servants together with a number of agencies promoting human rights based approaches towards a fairer and a healthier Scotland.  We will discuss how a human rights based approach, including the right to health, can contribute to and be embedded in the health and social care agenda – and how Scottish Government can best support this to happen in practice.

The right of every person to achieve the highest attainable standard of health is a fundamental human right enshrined in international law and protected by minimum legal standards.  Organised in partnership with a range of organisations as part of Scotland’s National Action Plan for Human Rights (SNAP), the seminar builds on the First Minister’s commitment to “do even more, even better at incorporating human rights” made in December 2015.  

The Chief Executive of NHSScotland Paul Gray will address the seminar, who will also hear international perspectives on human rights and health from Virginia McVea, Director of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission and Professor Paul Hunt, former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to health.

You can follow the discussion and conclusions from today’s seminar on social media by using the Twitter hashtag #righttohealth
If you would like more information, including access to a range of case studies highlighting people’s experiences of using human rights in health and social care  visit http://www.healthandsocialcare-snap.com/case-studies.