Our blog

Flu season has arrived about a month earlier than usual in Scotland, and cases are rising rapidly. Early data across the UK suggest that a new “drifted” type of flu virus may be circulating this winter.

Viruses change over time and that means our public health response does too, which includes our vaccination programmes. Consultant in Public Health from our Vaccination and Immunisation Division Dr Daniel Chandler outlines changes to this year’s COVID-19 vaccination programme in our latest blog.

As a data and intelligence led organisation, Public Health Scotland (PHS) is committed to providing timely, relevant, and high-quality data to support public understanding of NHS performance. Today, our Director of Data and Digital Innovation and Head of Profession for Statistics, Scott Heald, talks through a major development in how we report waiting times for NHS Scotland.

Alison Owens, Health Improvement Manager, discusses Public Health Scotland’s (PHS) engagement with the community food sector and the opportunities involving them in local decision-making brings —in particular in the development of Good Food Nation plans.

In our latest blog, Rishma Maini, Consultant in Public Health and Co-lead of Clinical Health Intelligence and Research Division at PHS, reflects on her recent attendance at the Scottish Prevention Hub’s conference in Edinburgh, which brought researchers, policy makers and community leaders together to discuss how we turn evidence into practice.

In our latest blog, Ruth Glassborow, Director of Population Health and Wellbeing at Public Health Scotland (PHS) discusses the latest Collaboration for Health Equity in Scotland webinar, where the effective gathering and use of local data was the key focus.

With the summer holidays winding down, Dr Claire Cameron, Consultant in Public Health at Public Health Scotland, writes in our latest blog that it’s time for students to gear up for the year ahead at university or college by making sure they are up-to-date with all their vaccines.

This guest blog explores the approach and reflections from Samantha Stewart, Research and Peer Engagement Senior Officer at SDF, alongside peer researchers, who facilitated the completion of a survey across Scotland for the National Mission evaluation.

In this joint blog, two of our Consultants in Public Health Medicine, Professor David Morrison, Director of the Scottish Cancer Registry and Dr Fatim Lakha, explore the seemingly paradoxical good news within Scotland’s rising cancer statistics – and what it means for our future health and care system.