The Scottish Government is set to make an £85 million investment in frontline frailty services, with plans to expand the Hospital at Home service to 2,000 beds by December 2026 and introduce frailty services in every A&E department by the end of summer 2025.
The planned expansion of the service will reportedly see the programme meet 20 percent of Scotland’s NHS bed base. Commenting on the commitment to reducing waiting times and delayed discharges, first minister John Swinney said: “Expanding Hospital at Home to 2,000 beds by December 2026 will create the largest ‘hospital’ in the country, thereby improving the flow of patients throughout the NHS and generating greater capacity for staff.”
The announcement follows the release of the 2025-26 budget in December, which outlined £21 billion of funding for health and social care services, including an additional £2 billion for NHS boards across Scotland to deliver frontline services. That figure included £200 million dedicated to reducing waiting lists and removing “blockages that keep some patients in hospital longer than necessary”, highlighting the expansion of Hospital at Home by 600 beds.
Making a commitment to furthering population health, the budget identifies primary and community care services as key to intervening earlier and making changes to service delivery which will support improved care quality and access. For digital healthcare specifically, the budget allocates £114.3 million, and states that alongside Hospital at Home services, this will include a focus on “adopting innovation and digital technology, including accelerating the delivery of our personalised digital health service”.
Digital in transforming health and care delivery
For a recent HTN Now panel, we welcomed a group of experts for a discussion on how digital tools are transforming community care delivery and expanding workforce capacity. Panellists included Peter Cumpstone, head of digital clinical systems, safety and transformation at Sirona care & health; Sara Lowe, CHS business and transformation clinical team lead at Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust; and Gabi Cohen, director of delivery at Isla Health. Our panel shared real-world projects, including waitlist validation pathways, self-managed care models, and community-based digital practices. They also highlighted practical insights into how technology is being used to streamline workflows, reduce pressure on staff, and improve patient outcomes.
Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust is trialling a frailty virtual care programme, utilising tech to remotely monitor patients with long-term conditions in their own homes with the hopes of identifying early warning signs to prevent the need for more intensive support. Using the Graphnet Docobo platform to monitor patients remotely, the programme is a partnership initiative between Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, FedBucks, and BOB ICB. Although similar remote monitoring is in place via the trust’s Hospital at Home service, the new pilot offers longer-term non-acute support directed at avoiding frequent hospital visits and supporting patients in staying independent.
NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership Procurement Services has opened a market engagement for a digital platform that can support a self-management and remote monitoring. The solution should be able to provide real-time test results, educational materials and two-way messaging for clinicians and patients. According to NHS Wales, the engagement process will allow for a maximum of six time slots, no longer than one hour, where suppliers will be asked to “provide a demonstration of their digital platform”, showing how their solution supports self-management and remote monitoring.
