NHS Delivery - a new national delivery organisation to lead transformation across our health and social care system - Scottish Government consultations

Feedback updated 19 Mar 2026

We asked

On 1^st October 2026 the Scottish Government published a consultation, NHS Delivery – a new national delivery organisation to lead transformation across our health and social care system, seeking the views on the proposals to reform national support and delivery services for our health and social care system. Specifically, it sought comments on the intention to combine the functions of NHS Education for Scotland (NES) and National Services Scotland (NSS) from 1 April 2026 as a first step in creating a new national organisation designed to facilitate broader transformation across NHS Scotland and beyond.

The consultation, which ran from 1 October 2025 to 30 November 2025, seeking views on both the immediate priorities for the new body and its longer-term evolution

You said

A total of 229 responses were received to the consultation. 70 (31%) responses were submitted by organisations, with the remaining 159 (69%) responses from individuals. A range of organisations responded including Special Health Boards, Regional Health Boards, Professional Bodies and Third Sector organisations.

Many of the respondents to the consultation (60%) supported the proposal to creating a new national organisation to drive forward digital transformational and system change – beginning with the consolidation of NES and NSS into one organisation, particularly highlighting benefits such as improving efficiency by reducing duplication, enabling digital transformation in a more streamlined manner, and prospects of better collaboration and integration of expertise.

We did

The consultation analysis report NHS Delivery : A new national delivery organisation to lead transformation across our health and social care system: Consultation Analysis - gov.scot is available on the Scottish Government’s website. We have published the consultation responses, where permission has been given, on Citizen Space.

Having considered the 229 consultation responses, Scottish Ministers decided to introduce legislation before the Scottish Parliament in January 2026 to transfer the staff, property, rights, functions, liabilities and obligations from NES to the Common Services Agency (CSA) with the feedback also reinforcing that this initial legislative change should focus solely on transferring NES and not extend to any wider reforms at this stage.

These proposals are part of wider reforms and views received during this consultation exercise will help inform the development of any changes that may be taken forward in the future. We will work with COSLA to explore a potential future role in supporting aspects of social care, recognising where national coordination can add value, whilst retaining existing accountabilities.

Published responses

View submitted responses where consent has been given to publish the response.

Overview

We are seeking views on our proposals to reform national support and delivery services for our health and social care system. We believe such reform is necessary if we are to be able to provide continuing high-quality health and social care services to the Scottish public in the years ahead.

The consultation paper seeks comments on our intention to combine the functions of NHS Education for Scotland (NES) and NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) from 1 April 2026 as a first step in creating a new national organisation designed to facilitate broader transformation across NHS Scotland and beyond.

Read the consultation paper. The consultation paper contains full background information for this consultation. You may find it useful to read or refer to while responding.

Consultation questions preview Consultation questions preview

The consultation questions are included here for your reference. Please click 'Begin consultation' at the bottom of this page to proceed.

Question 1
Do you agree that creating a new national organisation to drive forward digital transformation and system change – beginning with the consolidation of NES and NSS into one organisation – is the right approach to deliver the ambitions set out in Scotland’s Population Health Framework and Service Renewal Framework?

Question 2 (a)
Do you agree with the proposed strategic objectives for the new organisation (driving innovation, delivering Once for Scotland services, and streamlining structures)?

Question 2 (b)
Should the organisation consider additional strategic objectives?

Question 3
Are there services or functions currently delivered by other organisations (in addition to what NES and NSS already do) that should be delivered only by NHS Delivery to improve consistency and reduce duplication?

Question 4
What areas of national delivery could be improved by NHS Delivery to make services more efficient or better joined-up?

Question 5
Are there any existing services, programmes, or functions currently delivered by NES or NSS that you believe could be stopped, scaled back, or redesigned (or handed over to another organisation) to better align with current priorities and system-wide impact?

Question 6
Do you agree that NHS Delivery should lead the development of national digital capabilities (e.g. Electronic Health Records, digital inclusion, data architecture) for Scotland’s health and social care system?

Question 7
Should NHS Delivery be tasked with improving data sharing, data access and interoperability across health and social care?

Question 8
Do you believe NHS Delivery should be tasked with the lead national support role in innovation development & adoption, service redesign, change management, improvement, and commissioning?

Question 9
As NHS Delivery evolves in the longer term, what additional capabilities, functions or bodies should be considered for integration into a single national delivery capability that supports the aspirations of the Service Renewal Framework?

Question 10
What principles should guide decisions about future expansion of NHS Delivery’s remit and structure?

Question 11
What mechanisms should be put in place to review and adapt NHS Delivery’s remit and performance post-launch?

Useful information about responding to this consultation Useful information about responding to this consultation

As you complete your response, each page will provide the option to 'Save and come back later' at the bottom. This means you can save your progress and return to the consultation at any time before it closes. If you don't use this feature and leave the consultation midway through, your response will be lost.

Once you have submitted your response, you can enter your email address to get a pdf copy of your answers sent to you.

On the 'About You' page at the end of this consultation, organisations will have the opportunity to tell us more about their work and/or how their response was informed.

After the consultation has closed there will be a few months delay before any responses are published. This is because we must check any responses to be published abide by our Terms of Use.

All relevant submitted responses will be analysed. This may be carried out by third party organisations who Scottish Government, its executive agencies or non-ministerial offices, contract to do this work. Such data sharing will be governed by appropriate contractual arrangements to keep your data secure.

An analysis report will usually be published some months after the consultation has closed. This report will summarise the findings based on all responses submitted. It will be published on the Scottish Government website and you may be notified about it if you choose to share your email address with us.

You can also join our consultation mailing list where we regularly list newly published analysis reports (as well as new consultations).

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NHS Delivery - a new national delivery organisation to lead transformation across our health and social care system