Greater Glasgow public health summit
Greater Glasgow Division welcomed key partners and practitioners to its public health summit at Hampden Park on Tuesday 11 October.
The summit marked the significant progress under way in Police Scotland’s collaboration with Public Health Scotland, where in July 2021 both agencies formalised their collective approach to addressing public health and wellbeing in communities across the country.
The collaboration is the first of its kind in Scotland and today’s summit heard first-hand from keynote speakers of their agencies’ continuing focus on strengthening that collective effort to help Greater Glasgow’s most vulnerable service-users.
Chief Superintendent Mark Sutherland said: “The main aim of today’s event was to confirm our public health approach as the right one for our local communities.
“Public health is not just about curing people of diseases or illnesses, it’s looking at health more broadly, such as health inequalities, debt, income, poor housing, mental health and community safety
“It is absolutely right that policing should be seen as a public health partner. We are the agency in people’s homes in times of need and crisis - we are their eyes and ears and we police with compassion to help identify the root cause of offending.
“Working in partnership and through a public health lens will allow us to offer the right interventions to the right people at the right time and today’s summit really matters to tomorrow’s outcomes.”
A significant amount of policing demand comes from ensuring the safety of vulnerable people during times of crisis. These individuals often have complex, multiple health needs and are usually supported by public health professionals. The sheer volume of this demand is why Greater Glasgow Division has been embedding its public health approach to policing.
Agencies represented at today’s summit include Public Health Scotland, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Scottish Violence Reduction Unit, the University of the West of Scotland and the three local authorities which make up Greater Glasgow: East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire and Glasgow City Councils. Professor Jason Leitch, National Clinical Director was the first of several keynote speakers.
