NHS Scotland

NHS Scotland

Public healthcare service overview
Formed	5 July 1948; 76 years ago (1948-07-05)
Preceding agencies	Highlands and Islands Medical Service Emergency Hospital Service
Jurisdiction	Scotland
Employees	160,066 WTE (June 2024)[1]
Annual budget	£21 billion (2025–26)[2]
Minister responsible	Neil Gray, Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
Deputy Ministers responsible	Jenni Minto, Minister for Public Health and Women's Health Maree Todd, Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport
Public healthcare service executives	Caroline Lamb, Director-General, Health and Social Care and Chief Executive of NHS Scotland John Burns, Chief Operating Officer Paula Speirs, Deputy Chief Operating Officer, Planning and Sponsorship Dougie McLaren, Deputy Chief Operating Officer, Performance and Delivery
Parent department	Health and Social Care Directorates
Child agencies	14 regional NHS boards Healthcare Improvement Scotland NHS 24 Public Health Scotland NHS National Services Scotland NHS National Waiting Times Centre Scottish Ambulance Service State Hospitals Board for Scotland NHS Education for Scotland
Website	www.scot.nhs.uk

NHS Scotland, sometimes styled NHSScotland, is the publicly–funded healthcare system in Scotland and one of the four systems that make up the National Health Service in the United Kingdom. It operates 14 territorial NHS boards across Scotland, supported by seven special non-geographic health boards, and Public Health Scotland.

At the founding of the National Health Service in the United Kingdom, three separate institutions were created in Scotland, England and Wales and Northern Ireland. The NHS in Scotland was accountable to the Secretary of State for Scotland rather than the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care as in England and Wales. Prior to 1948, a publicly funded healthcare system, the Highlands and Islands Medical Service, had been established in Scotland in 1913.

Following Scottish devolution in 1999, health and social care policy and funding became devolved to the Scottish Parliament. It is currently administered through the Health and Social Care Directorates of the Scottish Government. The current Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care is Neil Gray,^[3] and the head of staff is the director-general health and social care and chief executive of NHS Scotland, Caroline Lamb.^[4]