Value based health and care action plan: measurement framework

Action 7

The Scottish Government will support National Services Scotland (NSS), NHS Boards, HSCPs and the Realistic Medicine Network to further develop and roll out the Demand Optimisation (DO) Atlas.

Progress to date and future priorities

The principal aim of the Demand Optimisation Atlas initiative is to increase transparency around demand for primary care testing and focus efforts to ensure all tests are appropriate, to reduce the risk of exposing people to inappropriate testing or interventions.

This action builds upon the initial work undertaken by the National Demand Optimisation Group, which resulted in the development of a Diagnostic Atlas of Variation and educational toolkit. The work of that group, taken forward by NHS National Services Scotland, has now ceased.

However, the VBH&CAP recognises that the Demand Optimisation Atlas still has the potential to be a useful tool to help health and care professionals practise Realistic Medicine by supporting them to identify unwarranted variation in diagnostic testing and reduce harm and waste across our health and care system.

Realistic Medicine Primary Care Clinical Leads and their GP cluster colleagues based in 5 different NHS Boards (NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde, Highland, Forth Valley, Fife Tayside) agreed to test a version of the Demand Optimisation Atlas, updated by Public Health Scotland and centred around a smaller number of diagnostic tests. During September 2025, colleagues in the GP clusters were offered and received training in using the updated Atlas from PHS and a subsequent Demand Optimisation Atlas survey was issued in November to assess their experience of using the Atlas and its usability. The level of response to this survey was limited, and subsequently the findings have not been utilised as a metric in this Measurement Framework. Following the capture and interpretation of insight from this research exercise, further development work may be warranted and testing on a larger may be recommended.

Monitoring metric

The monitoring metric for Action 7 draws on usage data from the Demand Optimisation Atlas. This metric provides insight into engagement with the Atlas following its launch.

Metric 7.1 : The Demand Optimisation Atlas was accessed 808 times during the 4-month period between its launch on 30/09/25 and 27/1/26.