But after 18 years of this Scottish Government, it looks like all three of those hopes may be broken, crucially including how long we live healthy lives.
Latest figures from the National Record of Scotland, reported in the Telegraph, show that healthy life expectancy for our daughters and sons in Inverclyde is amongst the lowest in Scotland – just 56.2 years for men and astonishingly only 56 years for women.
It is a scandal that for Scotland as a whole, healthy life expectancy for women is just 60, and men only 59.
Constituency MSP Stuart McMillan says the situation is ‘deeply concerning.’
I think it is much worse than that. I think it is a scandal and an emergency.
It means, at best, our people can only look forward to years of ill-health and misery in their later years, if they manage to get into their 60s.
Our general life expectancy for men is just 75, according to figures published last year, but that means, on average, the last two decades of life for men in Inverclyde are spent in poor health. For women it could mean almost a quarter of a century of pain.
Spending vital years on NHS waiting lists rather than enjoying a fulfilling retirement and playing full parts in their communities.
Neil Bibby MSP (Labour, West Scotland) (Image: Archive) Mr McMillan blames the aftermath of Covid. Well, I think readers might know that European countries suffered from the effects of the global pandemic too, and they don’t have the appalling record we do.
The problems which shorten healthy lives are much more profound. They are about housing, education, diet and lifestyle. And, yes, they are about the abuse of drugs and drink, too.
But how can the SNP be proud of their record when ordinary Scots’ healthy life expectancy is so short?
We need a new direction from the one the SNP have taken us down for nearly two decades – literally taking healthy years off our lives.