In October 2005 Ministers of the Scottish Executive announced ‘Delivering for Health’ which was the new national plan for the NHS in Scotland. One of the areas that this plan addressed was that of inequality and targeting geographical areas of greatest need. This programme was originally called Prevention 2010 but in September 06 the project was launched under its new name of Keep well.

The aim of Keep well is to increase the rate of health improvement in deprived communities (for those aged 45-64 years) with a particular focus on early intervention for those at a high risk of coronary heart disease and diabetes.

This aim will be achieved by: -

•  identifying and targeting those at particular risk of preventable serious ill-health (including those with undetected chronic disease);
• offering appropriate interventions and services; and
• providing monitoring and follow-up.

Participating GP practices started inviting patients within the project age group of 45-64 to attend a health check from January 2007. Also involved are community pharmacists and other key professionals offering health and wellbeing services to support a holistic approach.

A key feature of the design of Keep well is the encouragement to take a fully holistic approach and provide patients not just with medication but also support to improve their lives e.g. through accessing welfare benefit advice, taking up exercise, stop smoking, training and employment opportunities.

Keep well operates in 2 waves:

 Wave 1 (2006-08) targets communities within the Community Health and Care Partnership (CHCP) areas of North Glasgow, East Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and North Lanarkshire. The actual delivery of Wave 1 programmes will extend to 2008/09 and Wave 2 to 2009/10.
Wave 2 (2007-09) areas were announced in February 2007 and proposals are currently under development in North Ayrshire, East Ayrshire, Inverclyde, West Dunbartonshire, Aberdeen, South West Glasgow and all 3 NHS Fife CHPs.