NHS Scotland Global Citizenship Framework: setting the direction for global citizenship in NHS Scotland

Purpose of the Framework

In 2018, the NHS Scotland Global Citizenship Programme (“The Programme”) was launched to increase NHS Scotland’s global health contribution by providing guidance, co-ordination and support to the NHS staff and Health Boards who participate in global health partnership work and international volunteering (“the Community”).

Over that time the Community has continued to grow, reflecting the significant number of NHS Scotland staff who undertake a wide variety of global health work with partners around the world.

This NHS Scotland Global Citizenship Framework consolidates the learning over these early years and sets the direction for global citizenship in NHS Scotland over the years to come.

This Framework clarifies the scope of the Programme, the principles that underpin it and its contribution to wider Scottish Government priorities. It also takes account of recent advances in good practice in global health and international development to ensure the Programme continues to maximise the mutual benefit of global health participation for patients, health workers and the health service here in Scotland and overseas.

The Programme contributes to the following National Outcomes detailed in Scotland’s National Performance Framework (NPF)^[1]:

• International – ‘we are open, connected and make a positive contribution internationally’
• Health – ‘we are healthy and active’

It also sits within an NHS Scotland-wide approach to addressing health inequality, poor health and climate change which collectively we refer to as ‘the NHS approach to Global Citizenship’.

Further information on the interlinkages between the NPF, the NHS approach to Global Citizenship and the Programme is available in the resource ‘NHS Scotland and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)’^[2].

Abbreviations

GC Global Citizenship

GH Global Health

(Scottish) GHCU (Scottish) Global Health Coordination Unit

HIC High-income country

LMIC Low- and middle-income country

NHS National Health Service

RCSPG Royal College of Surgeons and Physicians of Glasgow

SDGs Sustainable Development Goals

THET Tropical Health Education Trust

TPI Twinning Partnerships for Improvement

WHO World Health Organization

A word on the terms “Global Citizenship” and “Global Health”

In this Framework and in the Programme’s core work, the term “Global Citizenship” is used to mean the wider concept that our world is interlinked and inter-dependent, and “Global Health” to describe more specific health activities within this definition. We acknowledge that the use of the two terms can be confusing, overlapping and that “health” itself can have a broad definition.

“the Programme” refers to the NHS Scotland Global Citizenship Programme.

“the Community” refers to the NHS Scotland staff who participate in or are interested in participating in global health work.

“the Advisory Board” refers to the NHS Scotland Global Citizenship Advisory Board which oversees the Programme.

“the NHS Scotland approach to Global Citizenship” refers to the broader definition of global citizenship. Please note this is wider that the scope of the NHS Scotland Global Citizenship Programme – see section 1.