NHS Scotland Academy

The NHS Scotland Academy (NHSS Academy) is an ambitious joint venture between NHS Education for Scotland (NES) and NHS Golden Jubilee (NHS GJ). It supports the transformation and sustainability of the health and social care workforce through the development and delivery of new accelerated learning and development offerings for key roles.

Since opening in 2021, the Academy has achieved some incredible milestones to support NHS Scotland.

National Impact

  • Over 11,000 staff have completed or are part-way through NHSS Academy programmes so far.
  • Developed 3 national training programmes to get staff into key roles quicker than ever before.
  • Anaesthetic Assistant programme has cut training time down from 18 months to just 26 weeks.
  • Surgical First Assistant training previously took more than 1 year, and can now be completed in just 34 weeks.
  • Foundations of Perioperative Practice programme is now down to just 34 weeks, compared to 18 months previously.
  • The National Endoscopy Training Programme has now allowed 330 endoscopists to be upskilled, providing a higher quality of care for patients across Scotland and playing a key role in tackling waiting times.
  • The National Ultrasound Training Programme offers 5 weeks of immersive and hands on experience at the Golden Jubilee University National Hospital, taking pressure off other Boards to provide training. Over 6,500 patients have had an ultrasound through the immersion training programme, with priority being given to patients from Boards with the longest wait times.
  • Approximately 900 community pharmacists have attended he National Clinical Skills for Pharmacists Programme giving them the skills to assess, advise and treat a range of patients for minor illnesses and common clinical conditions.

Preparing for Work in the NHS

  • Developed and launched the Preparing for Work in Health and Social Care Programme. This digital resource has now been accessed by over 7,500 people across Scotland who are new or returning to work in health and social care (care homes, dental practices, hospices, NHS Boards etc).
  • Over 920 international nurses recruited into Scotland have used Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) preparation resources. Over 420 of their supervisors have used the resources designed to support them.
  • Through the development of an NHS Scotland Youth Academy, we are supporting NHS Boards to attract and retain young people. This includes working with partners such as Skills Development Scotland (SDS) to develop new career pathways.

Follow the NHS Scotland Academy online and across Social Media at the following links: