Speaking as she launched the nationwide discussion document, ‘Better Health, Better Care’, which will inform the development of the new Scottish government’s health and wellbeing Action Plan, Sturgeon said that the Scottish government is determined to help the people of Scotland sustain and improve their health, with a particular focus on disadvantaged communities.

She continued: “In everything we do, we want to ensure better, local and faster access to health care right across Scotland.

"We know that Scotland faces significant health improvement challenges, in life expectancy and long-term conditions for example.  There are other challenging areas where progress is being made, like heart disease.

"But where we must place particular focus is the widening health gap between the richest and poorest people in our society.  This is not acceptable in any country, but is particularly unacceptable in a country as rich as Scotland.

"Our biggest challenge is to break the intergenerational cycle of ill health.  Our Action Plan will place particular emphasis on preventing the same problems occurring in future generations as have blighted past and current generations."

She said that she hoped that the discussion, which will take place over the next 12 weeks, will help inform the way the Scottish government and tackle issues such as: how to step up efforts to tackle health inequalities; develop community services for people with long term conditions; extend free school meals entitlement and targeted early interventions; increase the accountability of health services through direct elections to NHS Boards and by giving greater voice for patients and their carers about service design and delivery; improve the quality of services; and introduce new waiting times guarantees.

She said that the plan, which is expected to be published by the end of this year, will accelerate the process of change as set out in the 2005 ‘Building a Health Service: Fit for the Future’ document by seeking greater involvement from the Scottish public.

She continued: "We must do all we can to put the expectations of people at the heart of decision making in NHS Scotland.

"The challenges set out in the 2005 report continue to face us today, but as well as maintaining momentum we must also shift the balance of care to reflect new insights, evidence and experiences which have emerged in the past few years.

"In order to deliver our strategic vision, we need to improve patients' experience of care; secure best value for our investment; encourage everyone to take responsibility for their own health and wellbeing; focus on tackling health inequalities in everything we do; provide better anticipatory care and improve services for long term conditions; give children the best start in life; and ensure continuous improvement in services.

"We want to open a wide-ranging discussion about our key objectives and the best means to achieve them.  Today's document describes the building blocks of our approach and demonstrates our commitment to engagement and involvement in everything we do.  It will allow the public and patients to help shape the Action Plan we intend to publish in December."

'Better Health, Better Care: A Discussion Document' is published today on the Scottish Executive's website.