NHS Scotland’s operational improvement plan has been published, focusing on the roll-out of its health and social care app, the “digital front door” to health and care, taking a “stronger digital first approach”, and “further harnessing the benefits” of digital tech and innovation.
The operational plan notes the national roll-out of a digital dermatology pathway to GPs across Scotland, and to all health boards “by the end of spring 2025”, following the procurement of a digital service enabling GPs to take photos of skin issues and upload them to a dermatology referral. Already available in six health boards and over 400 GP practices, the plan cites evidence suggesting that this pathway will allow “around 50 percent” of patients to be returned to their GP “without having an in-person appointment with a consultant”.
NHS Scotland commits to working with NHS Education for Scotland to commence the roll-out of its health and social care app “by the end of 2025”, as part of its wider commitment to launching a “new national personalised digital health and care service” over the next five years. The plan highlights features set to be included in the app, such as viewing hospital appointments, receiving communications, and updating personal information; sharing that an initial release will be made in December 2025 “for a limited cohort of people” in Lanarkshire.
Work will also be reportedly starting on using the Community Health Index (CHI) to match people’s records across health and social care, and to extend the “digital front door” to local information and social care services. Use of the CHI is planned to expand information sharing “across health, social work and social care settings”, it states, in a move to “streamline citizen access to systems, reduce the need to repeat information multiple times and deliver better outcomes by creating much needed capacity in the health and care system”.
For type 2 diabetes, the plan introduces a national digital intensive weight management programme, which will support “3,000 people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes” over three years from January 2026, with estimates that “35 to 40 percent will achieve remission” by the end of their first year.
The plan shares that a theatre scheduling tool “shown to increase operating theatre productivity by up to 20 percent” is being rolled out to help health boards optimise theatres and fill gaps based on waiting list priority. “All territorial health boards will have been scheduled into the roll-out plan for the theatre scheduling tool by the end of June 2025”, it states.
Prioritising a digital-first approach, the plan notes, will “support the provision of tools that enable personalised patient experiences, tailored health recommendations, and proactive health and care management”, adding that the implementation of remote monitoring and digital mental health treatments will “accelerate” the move in this direction.
To read the operational improvement plan in full, please click here.
The role of digital in health and care in Scotland
The Scottish Government’s annual update on progress toward the NHS Recovery Plan was published at the end of last year, highlighting the role of digital innovation in empowering patients, supporting preventative care, managing demand, and addressing inequalities; and noting specifically the progress made around developing a digital front door, enabling remote monitoring, and enhancing scheduling. The government also noted a planned update to the data strategy for health and social care is also expected in 2025 and highlighted the ongoing work to develop AI policy and guidance for health settings.
In a speech in January at the National Robotarium in Edinburgh, Scotland’s First Minister, John Swinney, outlined plans around innovation, the Scottish health and social care app, Hospital at Home, and “better use of data”, as well as the potential for new technologies such as AI and robotics to “modernise” health services and “transform” diagnosis and treatment.
And earlier this month, the Scottish Government shared details of a £6 million investment to be made as part of the Accelerated National Innovations Adoption (ANIA) programme, supporting innovation across conditions including type 2 diabetes and stroke, and for babies born with rare genetic conditions.
