Coronavirus (COVID-19) digital health and care response: 2021 update

Conclusions

During the response to COVID-19 the Digital Health and Care Directorate, working with our partners, has been able to deliver innovative digital services, to extend, maintain, and develop new services. All of which have underscored the importance of strong partnerships and joined-up approaches to facilitate meaningful collaboration across organisations and sectors.

The Directorate will continue to deliver on the existing action plan commitments and, going forward, the work of the Directorate will be guided by the Digital Health and Care Strategy refresh (2021), which (in addition to existing programmes) will build on the experience of accelerated delivery because of COVID-19, and the learning from this period.

The successful expansion remote working for staff and of digitally enabled services including those supporting the vaccination programme, Near Me, Remote Health Pathways, and others described in this report, have provided an even stronger knowledge base for future development.

The recognition of digital inclusion, and the Connecting Scotland initiative, led by the Scottish Government's Digital Directorate in partnership with the SCVO and local authorities has emphasised the importance of connectedness.

This experience has demonstrated that organisations working across Scotland to deliver health and care, when supported, have demonstrated a willingness to use digital technologies. When digital solutions enable service priorities - to provide access to services, to connect to colleagues, and to connect with the people who use the services, we can work differently with confidence and innovation. This culture of collaboration will be also support plans for service renewal and future delivery.