Mental Health and Wellbeing Delivery Plan

How Will We Do This?

To deliver these changes, and to achieve the vision set out in the Strategy, we must recognise the distinct and connected roles supports and services play across the system in supporting mental health and wellbeing.

NHS mental health services play a valued role in delivering better outcomes for people, from the most severe mental health needs to providing specialist services in the community and through primary care. Primary care and community-based services should usually be the first point of contact when seeking mental health support. Recognising this, wider work is underway to improve access to primary and community services, including through the new Primary Care and Community Health Route Map, which will be published later in 2026. The Route Map includes mental health within the scope of actions identified, to strengthen community-based services and ensure people can access the support they need closer to home, with greater emphasis on prevention and early intervention.

To truly make services more local, accessible and preventative, NHS Boards and Integration Authorities will need to adapt the services they provide, appropriately developing their partnership with the third sector, value the role of lived experience and peer support, and focus more of their budget on support for early intervention and faster access to help. This will be aligned with wider agreed work on reform of Health Boards.

Local government also has a vital role to play, with everything from the promotion of key messages to support in education settings, through to providing specific mental health and wellbeing support in communities. Social workers also play a significant role in supporting people living with mental illness, enabling those with complex needs and trauma experiences to live as independently as possible in the community. They empower people who use services and protect and promote individual human rights. Significantly, wider local government services can help prevent mental wellbeing concerns arising or worsening by providing access to supports and services such as sports and leisure, access to nature, quality housing, employability services and providing opportunities to build local relationships and reduce isolation. We continue to advocate for the mental health and wellbeing benefits of this wider work, aligned to the preventative approach set out in the Population Health Framework.

Often commissioned via local authorities or Integration Authorities, third sector partners are also central to delivering mental health and wellbeing support in local communities as they can sometimes understand and respond rapidly to local circumstances and needs and reach people in ways that other services cannot. This can make them valued partners in strategic planning, alongside their vital role in providing a wide range of services - from walk in mental wellbeing hubs and crisis support through to groups to support people facing social isolation or loneliness. They can play a key role in supporting some of our most vulnerable citizens. Alongside partners, the third sector also plays a crucial role in moving more support into communities and we will continue to support and promote their unique role in the mental health system and to support sustainability across the sector where possible.

Mental Health and Wellbeing Blueprint

To help both service providers and individuals make sense of a complex system and ensure the right connections are made between services, we will publish a ‘Mental Health and Wellbeing Blueprint’ by autumn 2027. The Blueprint will set out the role of each part of our mental health and wellbeing system. Delivering better outcomes for people will depend on all parts of the system working in partnership to deliver shared aims.

Positive relationships and partnership working across all sectors involved in supporting mental health and wellbeing is critical and will be at the heart of our work to reform the system. Valuing the input of those with lived experience and those delivering services and working in partnership with the third sector will also be key in ensuring it meets the needs of those the Blueprint is designed to serve.

Underpinning this approach are the two overarching health and care frameworks published in 2025 - the Population Health Framework (PHF) and the Service Renewal Framework (SRF).

The Population Health Framework sets out the approach to improving health and reducing health inequalities for the next decade, through a whole-system approach rooted in preventing mental and physical health issues before they arise and promoting everyone’s right to achieve the highest possible standard of physical and mental health. This means acting early on the underlying social, economic and environmental determinants of physical and mental health and creating the conditions for people to live longer, healthier and more fulfilling lives.

The Service Renewal Framework provides a high-level guide for reform, to ensure the sustainability, efficiency, quality and accessibility of health and social care services in Scotland. It sets out actions to bring health and social care closer to the community, become more joined-up and person-led and with a greater emphasis on early intervention, choice and control. Harnessing the benefits of digital technology is a key principle of the SRF to enable this reform to take place.

Together, these frameworks will be key drivers for change across the system for years to come and will build on the achievements delivered in mental health since the last Delivery Plan.

Each part of the system working together will allow us to deliver the changes required to meet the needs of people today and in the future.

Online Support

Delivering our ambitions for mental health and wellbeing will be supported by the consideration and development of appropriate digital technologies. We will work to ensure online support and treatment options are safe, reliable and deliver genuine value, while always complementing face to face routes. Digital supports are provided in addition to face-to-face services, not as a replacement and everyone should have the choice of whether online services are appropriate for them.

We also know that going online, including on social media, can have a negative impact on young people’s mental health and wellbeing, which may not always outweigh the positive benefits of connection. We also know parents are worried about how long young people spend online, what content they may be viewing and the addictive nature of some applications. We want children and young people – and their parents and carers – to use social media and other platforms in a healthy, safe and balanced way. Scottish Government and COSLA will continue to work together with partners and engage with the UK Government to help prevent online harm to our children and young people.