Neil Gray, Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care talks about What Matters To You Day – June 6th 2024

When addressing Parliament two days ago on our vision for health and social care in Scotland, I described our vision for the future as one that has people at its heart.

Reflecting on today’s International What Matters To You Day (WMTY Day), I believe now more than ever that the foundation of all health and social care is that it’s people and relationships that matter.

That unrelenting focus is the principle at the core of our vision for health and social care. High quality person-centred care is fundamental to everything our health services does, characterised by conversations on what matters to each individual person.

As we celebrate WMTY Day along with many other nations and health and social care professionals around the world, we can be proud of the pivotal role Scotland has played, and continues to play, at the forefront of this global movement.

Today is an opportunity to celebrate all the work being done, valuing the relationships and bonds that make us who we are. But two days ago I also outlined to Parliament where I think we can go even further.  We must also look forward to the work we will do in coming months and years, using this day as a springboard to meet the undoubted challenges we face.

We have much to celebrate and work on.  Scotland is the first nation in the world to have a national independent feedback platform, Care Opinion, helping us to develop an open, learning culture where people can share their experiences and suggestions for improvement with teams providing care. The Realistic Medicine work being led by our Chief Medical Officer is supporting healthcare professionals to find new and innovative ways to focus on the outcomes that matter to people through increased focus on shared decision making and relational care. And our “Getting it Right for Everyone” work is using a co-design approach with people who use and provide services to create new models of care that better meet the needs of our population.

These are just some of the fantastic examples of work we are doing to help us stay focused on the things that really matter to the people of Scotland.  I look forward to building on and accelerating this work, and much more besides,  as an integral part of our vision for health and care.