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Scottish Government publishes NHS Scotland Operational Improvement Plan

  • Area of Work: Policy and Research
  • Type: News Item
  • Published: 1st April 2025

NHS Scotland Operational Improvement Plan sets out actions to improve aspects of healthcare delivery.

The Scottish Government has published the operational improvement plan for NHS Scotland, detailing actions to improve specific aspects of NHS Scotland delivery to build on NHS board planning for 2025-26.

Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, Neil Gray, announced that the plan focuses on four critical areas that the Government is committed to delivering, to help protect the quality and safety of care, supported by the increased investment for health and social care in the 2025-26 Scottish Budget. These critical areas are:

  • improving access to treatment
  • shifting the balance of care
  • improving access to health and social care services through digital and technological innovation
  • prevention – ensuring we work with people to prevent illness and more proactively meet their needs

The plan also outlines policy commitments such as a seven-day service in radiology, expansion of Hospital at Home and national rollout of the Digital Front Door app.

On a visit to Kirklands Hospital’s Flow Navigation Centre to launch the plan, Neil Gray said:

“This plan details how the Scottish Government will deliver a more accessible NHS, with reductions to long-waits and the pressures we currently see. It shows how we will use the £21.7 billion health and social care investment in the 2025-26 Budget to deliver significant improvements for patients.”

To develop the plan, the Government engaged with NHS staff and professional bodies, demonstrating the need for increased investment in the workforce. As well as the increases to boards’ core budgets for 2025-26, much of the additional investment, such as the £100 million for waiting times, is targeted for extra recruitment, with promises made to boards to provide recurring funding. Engagement will be built upon in the implementation phase of the plan.

In January, First Minister, John Swinney, described plans to renew the health service and deliver the change that people in Scotland need. This Operational Improvement Plan is the first document, followed by the population health framework and a health and social care service renewal framework. As a result, this is the first of 3 documents on the Government’s approach to health and social care renewal.

Together, these plans are intended to progress reform to ensure long-term sustainability, reduce health inequalities, further harness the benefits of digital technology, and improve population health outcomes in Scotland. They will set out how the Scottish Government will plan services for the population over the short, medium and longer term.

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