Meeting of the Parliament 13 March 2025
Brian Whittle has neatly pre-empted the paragraphs in my speech about how I want us to foster innovation to de-risk some of the investment decisions that are being taken, and how we can make sure that there is genuine partnership between industry, academia and the health service to ensure that what is being done is commercially viable and most applicable to our health and social care service. We want to get the economic benefit and, most importantly, the benefit for patients. I will speak about that in just a second.
To embed the work of the triple helix, we have established three regional innovation hubs. Together, they represent all 14 territorial NHS boards and provide support to those who want to test and develop new technologies in the NHS. The partnerships are already trialling the use of drones to deliver medications with a short shelf life and the use of artificial intelligence to improve chest X-ray screening, and they are working with CivTech to improve access to treatment for menopause.
However, we can no longer afford to have only islands of excellence in our health service; we must universalise the best service through the national adoption of proven innovations. That is why, in partnership with the NHS, we have established the accelerated national innovation adoption pathway. That brings together expertise from across our national health boards to identify proven innovations, produce robust business cases and, if those innovations are approved, support our territorial health boards to adopt them at pace across Scotland.
The pathway’s first programme was the creation of a national onboarding service for closed-loop systems. Closed-loop systems are an incredible asset for people living with type 1 diabetes. They not only improve sugar control and reduce the risk of long-term complications but remove a lot of the burden that people living with type 1 diabetes face on a day-to-day basis. Last year, we committed to supporting all children living with type 1 diabetes to access that technology and to increasing the provision for adults. We are on track to deliver closed-loop systems to more than 2,000 people in this financial year.
That was followed by our £1.8 million investment in the ANIA digital dermatology programme. Too many people in Scotland are waiting for a dermatology out-patient appointment. Launched in December, the pathway enables general practitioners to take photographs of a patient’s skin issues and securely attach those images to a dermatology referral. Evidence suggests that that will allow about half of those patients to be returned to their GP, with advice or reassurance, without the need for an in-person appointment with a consultant. Although some people will be fast tracked for testing based on assessment at digital triage, the programme will help to reduce waiting lists and to provide assurance to patients who are worried about their condition. For those with skin cancer, it will also reduce the time before they receive treatment and increase their chances of a positive outcome. The programme is already available to more than 400 general practices across six territorial health boards, and it will be rolled out across Scotland by the spring.
We must maintain momentum. That is why I am announcing today that the Scottish Government will commit a further £6.4 million to support the next two ANIA programmes. We will invest £4.5 million over three years to create a new national digital intensive weight management programme, which will significantly expand our weight management capacity and support 3,000 people who have recently been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. We expect that more than a third of people will achieve remission at the end of their first year on the programme, with a majority benefiting from a clinically significant average weight loss of 10 per cent.
Reducing the number of people living with type 2 diabetes reduces pressure on the health service and has life-changing implications for those whom we can help to achieve and sustain remission. A diagnosis of type 2 diabetes at 40 lowers life expectancy by about 10 years. The first patients will be recruited on to the programme in January.