Health: Long Term Conditions Framework

Closed 20 Jul 2025

Opened 23 Apr 2025

Contact

longtermconditions@gov.scot

Feedback updated 29 Oct 2025

We asked

The Scottish Government launched its consultation on a Long Term Conditions Framework on 23 April asking a range of questions on the issues that mattered to people with long term conditions and the organisations that support them, to assist in the development of a new integrated Framework. 

You said

Our consultation on a Long Term Conditions Framework took place 23 April – 20 July 2025 and received 371 validated responses – 60% from individuals and 40% from organisations. 

From the responses, 80 % agreed that the Scottish Government should move from a condition-specific policy approach to one that has a balance of cross-cutting improvement work for long term conditions alongside condition-specific work.  The benefits of this were deemed to be: 

  • Whole-system, person-centred, holistic, and integrated models of care; 

  • Equitable and sustainable access to care, treatment, and support; 

  • An increased focus on prevention and early intervention; and 

  • An unified approach could be easier to communicate 

 

The overarching themes from the consultation analysis were: 

  • Equitable and sustainable access; 

  • Whole-system, person-centred, holistic and integrated models of care; 

  • Prevention and early intervention; 

  • Tackling inequalities in accessing information, care and support; 

  • Access to non-medical services; and 

  • Workforce education and training. 

We did

The consultation analysis report will form part of the evidence base that will be used by the Scottish Government to help develop and finalise the Long Term Conditions Framework which will set out principles, priorities, and themes to then guide action.  Insights from work delivered through the existing condition-specific Scottish Government policies will also help to inform an integrated approach. It is expected that the finalised Long Term Conditions Framework will be published by the Scottish Government before the end of December 2025, with the first in a series of action plans published by March 2026. 

We are grateful for the detailed responses provided to many of the questions and would like to thank everyone who responded. 

Where permission to publish has been provided, the consultation responses are now available to view online. 

An independent analysis of the consultation responses has been carried out. The consultation analysis report has been published on the Scottish Government website. 

Published responses

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

Overview

The purpose of this consultation 

Many people in Scotland live with the challenges of a long term condition; recently reported as 38% of our population.  Long term conditions can impact a person’s whole life: their physical health, mental health, relationships, finance and work.

The Scottish Government has a number of strategies and policies in place to improve care and support for a range of long term conditions and condition groups. The approaches taken focus on safe, effective and person-centred care, delivered through a healthcare quality and improvement approach.  These have included plans on neurology, out of hospital cardiac arrest, heart disease, diabetes, respiratory, pain management, stroke, cancer and long covid.

As some condition-specific Scottish Government policies approach the end of their planned duration, we have begun reviewing our approach. This has presented an opportunity to consider if and how policy support for other long term conditions can also be provided. Now, as we plan, we are seeking wide-ranging views on what should be prioritised. 

As we reassess how best to focus policy work for long term conditions, there will be a need to prioritise areas for improvement. We recognise that improvement priorities may sometimes cut across all conditions, and other times be more condition-specific. The consultation therefore asks a number of questions around what is working well in long term conditions, what could be better, and how you think we should prioritise work as we move forward.

The Scottish Government’s role is to set policies and frameworks at a national level. NHS boards have responsibility for their workforce, service planning and delivery of those services in their local areas. The role of this consultation is therefore not to reassess local planning of services, instead it is intended to help us identify improvement priorities for long term conditions at a national level. These priorities will help us support the delivery of the NHS reform and renewal work which is underway to make people’s experience of the NHS in Scotland better than it is today. 

 

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.

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.

A 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 consulation mailing list where we regularly list newly published analysis reports (as well as new consultations).

 

Why your views matter

This consultation provides an opportunity to gather the views of a wide range of individuals and organisations on what matters when it comes to prevention, care, support and equalities in long term conditions. This might be for yourself, someone you care for informally, for people you care for professionally or otherwise represent, whether on a professional or voluntary basis. We welcome your participation.

What happens next

The consultation process will take place from 23 April 2025 to 20 July 2025. After which the consultation responses will be analysed and be used to form a final Long Term Conditions Framework which will be published later in 2025. 

Alongside this we will work with stakeholders on how the framework and actions plans will be implemented and governed which will include prioritisation work so we can be clear on how decisions will be made on which improvements should take priority. 

Interests

  • Health and Social Care
  • Main hub