These early summer months have brought a wave of major Scottish Government policy announcements and important discussions across Scotland’s health landscape, from national frameworks to NHS conferences. Prevention, moving care to the community, and population health are centre stage, and dietitians are vital to making these strategies and implementation plans real.
Operational Improvement Plan
In April, we saw the first major policy document from the Scottish Government on health and social care service renewal, The Operational Improvement Plan. Focusing on four key areas, improving access to treatment, shifting the balance of care, harnessing digital innovation, and prioritising prevention, the plan outlines how the £21.7 billion health and social care investment in the 2025–26 budget will support service improvement. Commitments include bringing care into the community by expanding 'Hospital at Home', rolling out the 'Digital Front Door' app, and introducing a seven-day radiology service. Developed in consultation with NHS staff and professional bodies, the plan highlights the need for sustained workforce investment, including targeted recruitment funding.
Cabinet Secretary Neil Gray backed up this commitment at the NHS Conference in early June, where the BDA had a stall and opportunities to engage with key stakeholders. He echoed that the Scottish government has ‘no choice’ but to shift funding from hospital and specialist services to GPs and community health services, with extra funding for primary care coming in the draft budget unveiled before the end of the year.
Service Renewal Framework
To implement the 'Operational Improvement Plan', the Scottish Government, just this week, launched The Service Renewal Framework. Central to this is the creation of a new national body, merging NHS Education for Scotland (NES) and NHS National Services Scotland (NSS), bringing together education, digital innovation, and national services into a single ‘centre of excellence’. This new organisation, launching in April 2026, will support a more coordinated “once for Scotland” approach to service delivery, which hopes to deliver more consistent training pathways, greater access to innovation and digital tools, and stronger alignment between workforce development and service needs.
Population Health Framework
It may not be news to any of you that improvements in life expectancy in Scotland have stalled, and Scotland's health is worsening. UK Government austerity, the COVID-19 pandemic and more recently the cost-of-living crisis have eroded the health of our population and widened inequality. The Scottish Government's response is their newly launched, Population Health Framework, which addresses the social determinants of health, with the key aim of improving Scottish life expectancy whilst reducing the life expectancy gap between the most deprived 20% of local areas and the national average by 2035.
The two initial priorities identified in the framework, as the most urgent to address to start turning the ship around, are:
- Embedding prevention in our systems. Develop mechanisms that prioritise addressing inequalities and improving prevention within planning, delivery, budgets and accountability.
- Improving healthy weight. Develop a whole system approach to improve food environments; ensure a healthy, balanced diet is accessible and affordable to all, and improve population levels of healthy weight.
Bridging the Gap: National Policies and Local Implementation
This week we also saw important steps taken to regulate price and location-based promotions of unhealthy food in-store and online, such as multi-buys and at checkouts in stores, bringing Scotland in line with England and Wales regulations. Empowering those at a local level to meaningfully encourage the food and drink sector and wider food systems to improve its offer to consumers.
And finally, highlighting Scotland's pilot delivery of 'Marmot Places'. Public Health Scotland and Professor Sir Michael Marmot, with councils and health boards in Aberdeen City, North Ayrshire and South Lanarkshire, are delivering this programme within local areas and Community Planning Partners to strengthen their plans to reduce health inequalities and improve wellbeing in their communities.
Are you connecting the dietetic dots?
At the heart of this shift is prevention, and nutrition is one of the most powerful, evidence-based tools we have to prevent ill health and reduce inequalities. To turn these ambitions into action, dietitians must be recognised as essential across sectors. But this can’t happen without investment. Addressing the current workforce challenges, and seizing the opportunity to grow and diversify the dietetic profession, will be critical to delivering a healthier, fairer future for Scotland.
Ahead of the Holyrood 2026 elections, the BDA is working on just that, a manifesto outlining our demands for a health environment in Scotland that unlocks the potential of our dietetic workforce.
If you would like to help shape this, contact our Policy and Campaigns Officer for Scotland, Rhianna Mallia, at [email protected].