"The number of children in Scotland with no obvious sign of tooth decay has hit a record high. Figures from NHS Scotland show four out of five (80%) P7 children had no obvious decay experience in their permanent teeth in 2019. This is up from 53% in 2005 when records began."
https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com

While the JRF offers advice on further improvements to the Scottish Child Payment, it was particularly supportive of the initiative saying, today: "1. Following a great deal of work in advance of the Scottish Government’s announcement, including campaigning by a significant coalition of poverty-focused organisations in Scotland, we were pleased that the analysis and ideas in our first report had in many ways been reflected in the Scottish Government’s announcement. We believe the Scottish Child Payment could make a significant contribution to tackling child poverty in Scotland...."
https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com

"The move from institutionalised to community-based care is at the heart of Scotland’s strategy for patients with psychiatric, addiction of learning disability conditions. The number of patients treated as inpatients has fallen by 15% in the last 5 years. There will of course always be some patients who cannot be treated in the community. This statement from the Royal College of Nursing sums up the need for this trend and one major reason for its success in Scotland"
https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com

"From: House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts Penalty charge notices in healthcare One Hundred and Fifteenth Report of Session 2017–19. These points are revealing: The Department argues that its approach is justifiable because it spends 31 pence per £1 collected managing the process. However, it has not calculated costs to the wider health system, where patients—for fear of being fined—do not seek the treatment they need and end up in hospital. Last year the PCN process generated a net yield of £25 million for the NHS, a pitiful sum compared to the annual cost of prescriptions which is around £9 billion. We believe that this kind of threatening approach is unhelpful, and we are concerned that it could have a negative impact on people who are legitimately entitled to exemption. The British Dental Association tells us that last year it saw a 23% fall in the number of people on low incomes seeking treatment and is concerned that the threat of fines may have discouraged people from going to the dentist. Failure to seek treatment when needed is only likely to push up longer-term costs to the NHS."

https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmpubacc/2038/2038.pdf

http://reidfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/The-Case-for-Universalism.pdf

https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com