GRH Introduction
ScotPHN has undertaken several pieces of work on gambling since 2014:
- A literature review on gambling related harm (Allison Thorpe, 2014)
- A scoping of what public health in Scotland should do (Michelle Gillies, 2016)
- An overview of research from the UK and international systematic reviews (Julie Arnot, 2018)
- Gambling harms: Action plan, policy and strategy links (Kalonde Kasengele, Michelle Gillies, 2020)
All of the reports are available on this page.
Arising from the scoping report by Gillies, the Gambling Commission has funded a three year pathway project which will support the delivery of the National Strategy to Reduce Gambling Harms in Scotland. Based in the City of Glasgow, the project will co-create, implement and evaluate a local action plan to tackle gambling harms. A participatory whole system approach will be adopted, bringing together local communities and a diverse range of stakeholders to develop a shared understanding of the problem and identify and prioritise collaborative actions on the system that will have the greatest potential impact. Sharing and spreading ideas, practice, experience and evidence will inform and support practice and policy. ScotPHN will use the learning from this project to inform national approach.
Michelle Gillies is leading the project. An advisory group, the Glasgow Gambling Harms Group, has been formed which includes members from Glasgow City Council, IJB, CPP, HSCP, the Glasgow Centre for Population Health (GCPH), the ScotPHN, the Health & Social Care Alliance and the University of Glasgow. Additional working groups will be formed to undertake work throughout the course of the project. A working paper, ‘Preventing and reducing gambling harms in the City of Glasgow’ (June 2019) outlines some of the issues the project is seeking to address.
COVID19 has impacted on the project and some elements of the project cannot currently be progressed. However, the project has adapted to consider the opportunities, risks and harms of gambling created by lockdown. An update on progress can be found in ‘Glasgow Whole System Approach Gambling Harms Project Update (February 2021)’.
For further details, please contact ScotPHN at phs.scotphn@phs.scot and we will be in touch.