Neil Gray: The percentage of primary one pupils who are obese is frightening

Neil Gray has raised concerns over the percentage of primary one school pupils who are obese. 

According to Public Health Scotland, figures for 2023/24 show that 22.3 per cent of primary one children are at risk of being overweight or obese. 

Speaking at Holyrood’s health hub fringe event at the SNP’s annual conference in Aberdeen, the health secretary said: “The percentage of our primary ones who are obese is frightening, and that is linked to poverty and the cost-of-living challenges.” 

Gray was on a panel alongside healthcare professionals who argued that investment in areas other than healthcare is crucial to improving Scotland’s public health. 

Dr Mairi Stark, Scottish officer at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said that improving public health is not just about improving the standard of healthcare. 

She said: “A lot of this is not just about healthcare. We need investment in early years, education, and we need to bring people out of poverty, ensuring they have fair access to employment opportunities and decent housing.” 

Stark told delegates that “there are so many basic things that children aren’t getting”.  

“Children aren’t getting opportunities to do exercise,” she said. 

She added: “A lot of them have lost hope, and many have mental health issues, not just from too much screen time. They are asking, ‘what’s the point? AI is going to take all of our jobs’. They don’t know what’s going to happen in the future.” 

Colin Poolman, Scotland director for the Royal College of Nursing, said that “things need to be moved upstream” and “we’ll only know if public health has seen the generational benefit in 10 or 20 years' time”.  

Gray argued that “80 per cent of the drivers of poor health” are outside of the responsibility of the health service. He agreed with the other panellists that poverty, housing issues, and poor employment opportunities are driving poor health.  

He said: “It’s not just me, the first minister has been absolutely clear that this needs a whole government, a whole society response. 

“It’s about empowering people to live active and healthy lives and to break down the barriers to allow people to access services. Without reform, the health service as it is currently set up is untenable.” 

Dr Marion Slater, co-dean of training at the Royal College of Physicians Edinburgh, raised the issue of limited employment options for healthcare professionals who have undertaken NHS training. 

She cited dermatology in NHS Grampian. “We had to move training posts to NHS Tayside six or seven years ago because we didn’t have sufficient consultant dermatologists to train our future consultant dermatologists,” Slater said.  

Funding has since been made available, allowing training to be reestablished in the health board. However, Slater said: “NHS Grampian did not appoint three people, and one of those three is still not employed by the health board. 

“If you want to see a dermatologist as an adult in Aberdeen, you will wait at least two years for a routine appointment. If it’s an urgent suspected cancer, it should be seen within two weeks; you’ll be waiting four to five months here.” 

She added: “We have trained dermatologists sitting at home or taking on private work, which is not what they want to do.”