Teens to vote in health hustings

Published on Tuesday 16 June 2009 22:45

PEOPLE as young as 16 are to get the right to vote in elections to choose who sits on health boards in Scotland, it was announced yesterday.

The pilot schemes, in the NHS Fife and NHS Dumfries and Galloway areas, will also allow them to stand for election. It will be the first time in the UK that 16 and 17-year-olds have been able to take part in an election.

Direct elections have been opposed by some, including the British Medical Association. Concerns include the cost and fears that the numbers bothering to vote could be low. But unions have supported the elections to help bring about a culture change for health boards.

The 3 million cost of the pilot study is to be met by the Scottish Government.

Health board elections will be postal ballots using the single transferable vote (STV), on similar lines to elections for national park authorities.

The elections will take place next spring and an evaluation two years later will help determine whether the idea is extended.

Legislation for elected health boards was passed by MSPs in March.

Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said two other areas – Lothian and Grampian – will test other ways of increasing public involvement in health boards.

"With the selection of Fife and Dumfries and Galloway as pilot boards, we have taken a further step towards the first-ever direct elections to Scottish health boards," she said.

"This is designed to ensure that the views of local people about the NHS services they pay for can no longer be ignored."

A BMA Scotland spokeswoman said: "The BMA supports greater public engagement but we still firmly believe that direct elections to health boards are not the answer."