Responding to the health and social care service renewal framework

The Scottish Government has published a new health and social care service renewal framework. The framework is part of a 10-year plan to reform health and social care services. Key priorities include:

Shifting care closer to home: encouraging community-based treatment and self-management of health conditions

Strengthening governance: clarifying health board responsibilities and improving oversight and leadership.

Harnessing innovation: embracing digital tools and treatment advances to improve efficiency and outcomes.

Creating NHS Delivery: a new national body formed by merging NHS Education for Scotland and NHS National Services Scotland, focusing on training, digital innovation, and strategic support.

The framework responds to critiques that the Scottish Government lacked a clear vision for reform, aiming to deliver high-quality care at the right time and place while ensuring long-term sustainability.

The principles focus on prevention, people, community, population planning, and digital. This follows the Darzi three "strategic shifts" (from hospital to community, from analogue to digital, and from sickness to prevention) that the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (the "College") has been calling for.

The College would have liked to see more in the framework about delayed discharges, however, particularly in relation to delays caused by of challenges around legal issues and guardianship. 

And while we welcome the commitment to ensure that healthcare workers are involved in shaping the NHS of the future, we would urge the Scottish Government to publish a workforce plan to ensure that we have enough qualified doctors to meet population demand - both now, and into the future.