The Scottish government has opened an opportunity to develop a national online digital maturity assessment tool that will allow healthcare organisations within the country to evaluate their use of digital technologies.
With a focus on “continuous improvement, workforce development, and strategic alignment”, the tool should have the ability to assess leadership, data use, infrastructure, innovation, staff confidence, digital skills and support readiness for change.
The government aims to deliver a “robust, user-friendly digital maturity assessment platform” that is specifically tailored to the needs of Scottish health services. This includes benchmarking at local, regional and national levels; providing actionable insights to inform digital transformation; creating and hosting a complementary learning and development website; and allowing for accessibility, data security and ongoing technical support.
Though there is no current value stated for the contract, there is an estimated duration of 36 months, with the potential for renewal for up to 24 months. Interested suppliers are encouraged to submit by 26 August 2025, showcasing two examples of similar services they have provided in the past three years.
This follows Scotland’s recent update on their data strategy for health and social care, where they shared several key achievements from 2024/25, and highlight main priorities for 2025/26. It outlines plans to develop an interactive map for data ethics, to pause the GP IT system transition, focus on the primary care data and intelligence platform and work on an upcoming policy framework for the use of AI in healthcare.
Investment across Scotland’s health and care services
The Scottish Government plans to make an £85 million investment in frontline frailty services, expanding 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. This will reportedly see the programme meet 20 percent of Scotland’s NHS bed base.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, NHS Lothian and AI evaluation company Aival are testing the technical performance of AI tools as part of a £1 million project looking at how well AI integrates with existing clinical systems and workflows. The project aims to assess the safety and effectiveness of AI technology, creating a validation framework that will support assessments of these tools prior to procurement.
NHS Scotland’s health board published a £206 million procurement opportunity, looking for an integrated, cloud-based software-as-a-service solution for finance, HR, payroll and procurement processes. This includes the appointment of a systems integrator to oversee the design, delivery and implementation of the selected SaaS product. The procurement will be made up of two separate contracts, one for the technology and one for the implementation services, with a duration of 192 months.
In March, the Scottish Government shared details of a £6 million investment supporting innovation for a range of conditions, including type 2 diabetes, stroke and babies born with rare genetic conditions. £4.5 million will be invested over three years in a national digital intensive weight management programme with a further £1.1 million designated to testing recent stroke patients.
