NHS Delivery - a new national delivery organisation: consultation

Purpose of the Consultation

This consultation document invites 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.

Specifically, 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. This builds on previous consolidations in the health system, where the establishment of Public Health Scotland has shown the clear merits in having a single public health capability for Scotland – and now we are seeking to create a single delivery and transformation capability.

Transforming Health and Social Care for Scotland’s Future

Scotland stands at a pivotal moment for health and social care. Our ambition, as set out in the Population Health Framework (PHF: 2025–2035) and the Health & Social Care Service Renewal Framework (SRF: 2025–2035), is clear:

To create a Scotland where everyone can live longer, healthier, and more fulfilling lives, with health inequalities reduced and services designed around people’s needs.

Achieving this vision requires more than incremental change. Both frameworks call for a decisive shift:

• From treating illness to preventing it – embedding prevention and early intervention at every level.
• From fragmented delivery to whole-system action – ensuring that digital transformation, workforce development, and service innovation are joined up, not siloed.
• From variation to consistency – delivering “Once for Scotland” solutions that are equitable, efficient, and sustainable.

Why Change is Needed

Currently, key national functions – such as digital transformation, workforce support, and service innovation – are split across multiple organisations, notably NHS Education for Scotland (NES) and NHS National Services Scotland (NSS). This fragmentation leads to:

• Duplication of effort and resources
• Slower progress on digital and service transformation
• Missed opportunities for prevention, early intervention, and efficient use of data and technology

Both the PHF and SRF highlight that overcoming these barriers is essential to deliver on Scotland’s ambitions:

• The PHF calls for “maximising digital opportunities to improve prevention, productivity, and outcomes” and for “whole-system, joined-up action across all sectors.”
• The SRF commits to “delivering services on a Once for Scotland basis – doing things once, nationally, rather than repeating across multiple organisations,” and to “significantly transforming the capability of our National NHS Boards by creating a new single body called ‘NHS Delivery’.”

Plans for the organisation have up until now been developed under the working title ‘NHS Delivery’ whilst wider engagement is taken forward to identify a name which fully reflects its future role. For the purposes of this consultation, the organisation is being referred to as NHS Delivery.

A Single Delivery Organisation: The Enabler for Transformation

By bringing together the strengths of NES and NSS into a single national delivery organisation, Scotland can:

• Accelerate digital transformation – with national platforms, data sharing, digital inclusion and innovation supporting prevention, self-management, and better outcomes.
• Integrate workforce development and digital skills – ensuring staff are equipped for new models of care.
• Embed prevention and equity – aligning resources, innovation, and accountability to the outcomes Scotland needs.
• Provide clear leadership and accountability – making it easier to deliver the ambitions of the PHF and SRF at scale and pace.

The expectation is that NHS Delivery will evolve significantly following the initial bringing together of NES and NSS. The full extent of functions to be delivered by the organisation will be the subject of further stakeholder engagement and formal consultation over the course of 2026 and beyond. In the meantime, it is important that partners and the public have the opportunity to comment on our plans for the operation of NHS Delivery from April 2026 and that is the primary purpose of this consultation, although there is space to offer initial views on its future evolution.

Establishing NHS Delivery – Our Phased Approach

October to December 2025 will be the public consultation

January 2026 is when Legislation Introduced

April 2026 is when NHS Delivery will go live

Beyond April 2026 is when there will be partner engagement and public consultation

Your Views Matter

This consultation seeks your views on the proposal to establish a single national organisation to drive forward essential digital transformation and system change in health and social care.

Do you agree that this is the right approach to deliver the ambitions set out in Scotland’s Service Renewal Framework?

Your feedback will help shape the next stage of reform, ensuring that Scotland’s health and care system is fit for the future.

Consultation questions are set out in each of the relevant sections and are also summarised on page 26. You can submit a response to the consultation via citizens space. The deadline for submitting a response is 30 November 2025.