One in f ive now lives with major health problem
A MILLION Scots – a fifth of the population – have l ong- term health problems or disabilities which affect their daily lives.
Newly released Census figures show around a tenth of people in Scotland believe their activities are ‘limited a lot’ by mobility or health issues.
The statistics also reveal an army of unpaid carers, with nearly one in ten looking after family or friends because of ‘long-term physical or mental ill health or problems related to old age’.
Tory health spokesman Jackson Carlaw said: ‘These findings will astonish many. Clearly with an ageing population there are key challenges which Scotland’s NHS will require to meet.
‘However, for 20 per cent of Scots to say they are suffering a disability or long-term illness suggests we need both a lot more education and to manage expectations.’
According to census data for 2011, 20 per cent of Scotland’s population reported that their ‘day to day activities were limited by a l ong- term health problem or disability’, including 10 per cent (506,000) who said their activities were limited a lot.
As with general health, this proportion increased with age. While only 5 per cent of those aged under 25 had a limiting long-term health problem or disability (including 2 per cent who were limited a lot), the corresponding proportion for those aged 85 and over was 83 per cent (including 54 per cent who were limited a lot).
Meanwhile, 9 per cent (491,000) of the 5.2million population provided unpaid care to family mem- bers, friends or others. A spokesman for Capability Scotland said: ‘These figures reflect how important it is for the needs of disabled people and those with a long-term health condition to be considered and should be used to inform the planning of future services.’
The figures also showed 82 per cent (4.4 million) of Scotland’s
‘The findings will astonish many’
population reported their general health as being ‘ very good’ or ‘good’ and 6 per cent (297,000) as ‘bad’ or ‘very bad’. The proportion reporting ‘very good’ or ‘good’ decreased with age: from 97 per cent for under-25s to 35 per cent for those aged 85 and over.
Conversely, the proportion of the population reporting their general health as ‘ bad’ or ‘ very bad’ increased with age: it was less than 1 per cent for those aged under 25 compared with 19 per cent for those aged 85 and over.
An Age Scotland spokesman said: ‘The figures show that long-term conditions and disabilities can be a big problem for older people.’
The profile of general health was broadly similar for males and females, though males in the 25 to 49 and 75 and over age groups reported better health on average.
Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop said Census data, which is being released in tranches, ‘ explodes some popular alarmist myths’. The UK Government has said the problem of supporting an ageing population ‘will be more pronounced’ in Scotland because there are ‘relatively fewer children’ – the future workforce. But Mrs Hyslop said the Census shows ‘the number of working-age people compared to the number of dependents is lower than for the rest of the UK’.