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'Secretive' SNP axes over-40s health check-ups

HEALTH campaigners criticised SNP plans yesterday to secretly axe its vaunted campaign of check-ups for over-40s.

Scottish Public Health Minister Shona Robison promised to do “all that we can” when she announced the Life Begins at 40 scheme in 2011 — a project that offered comprehensive health assessments for Scottish residents turning 40.

“Prevention is better than cure and we are dedicated to doing all that we can to identify those at risk from as early as possible,” she said in a press release announcing the scheme’s launch.

But the Scottish government revealed under questioning by the Scottish Herald newspaper yesterday that it had quietly shelved the scheme last year — part of a £15 million plan outlined in the party’s election manifesto — before it even finished a pilot project.

Scottish Labour health spokesman Neil Findlay derided the plans as “utterly ridiculous,” while the Scotland Patients Association’s Dr Jean Turner said the government had acted “sneakily.”

But the British Medical Association’s Dr Andrew Buist said GPs “did not welcome or support” the programme in the first place, preferring targeted campaigns for particular group of adults with increased risks.

Socialist Health Action Scotland’s Dave Watson said the benefits of screening could not be denied, even if resources were currently stretched.

“The point here is that having made the announcement, manifesto pledge etc there should be a proper analysis and discussion about the policy, not quietly dropping it without debate,” he said.

A Scottish government spokesman said they would instead “integrate” the scheme as a series of webpages on the Healthy Working Lives website.

A new web-based service would launch next year, he added.

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