The Scottish Budget for 2025 to 2026 has been published, vowing to “renew public services” and “create the conditions for every person in Scotland to thrive”. It announces a “record investment” of £21 billion in health and social care which includes an increase in capital spending power of £139 million from 2024-25.
Recognising the importance of developing an “effective, efficient and sustainable health and social care system that is fit for Scotland’s future”, the budget for health and social care places a focus on prevention, tackling health inequalities, and promoting healthier lifestyles.
The budget notes the direction to increase capacity and access in primary care, a focus to reduce discharge delays and £200 million in funding to reduce waiting times. The budget also adds support to expand the hospital and home programme to meet 20% of Scotland’s NHS bed base by December 2026.
Making a commitment to furthering population health, the budget identifies primary and community care services as a key to intervening earlier and making changes to service delivery which will support improved care quality and access. It adds: “One example of these efforts will be to move 20,000 optometry patients out of hospital pathways by December 2026.”
For digital healthcare specifically, the budget allocates £114.3 million, and states that this will support the expansion of Hospital at Home services, and a focus on “adopting innovation and digital technology, including accelerating the delivery of our personalised digital health service”.
The budget also highlights a commitment to replacing Monklands Hospital in NHS Lanarkshire, replacing the Belford Hospital in NHS Highland, and delivering a new Eye Pavilion elective centre in NHS Lothian.
To learn more about the budget, please click here.
Digital strategy and direction in Scotland
Earlier this year, a report was published on progress around commitments such as improving connectivity, building digital skills and changing the culture of public service organisations to ensure resilience, accessibility and ease of use.
A new Digital and Data Capability Framework was published with the aim of supporting digital skills and competencies across the entire health and social care workforce. The framework identified six areas of focus: using technology; innovation and service improvement; identity, safety and wellbeing; communication; handling information and data; and learning and development. Accompanying the framework was guidance for individuals and team leaders, with suggestions on objective setting, identification of where knowledge and skill gaps exist, personal development and more.
NHS National Services Scotland also published its strategic framework for 2024-2026, setting out the organisation’s vision, values and priorities – namely to enable transformation by supporting the implementation of new solutions, to continually improve services, and to active seek opportunities for collaboration.
And HTN’s special report on digital and data across Scotland examined the landscape of digital healthcare in Scotland now and for the future, hearing from representatives from the Scottish Government, NHS National Services Scotland and Scotland’s Digital Health & Care Innovation Centre, about their views on projects and priorities.
