Digital strategy summary

PHS vision and values

Our strategic vision is focused on ensuring  communities can flourish across Scotland.

We aim to be an organisation that is data and intelligence led, outcomes focused, trusted, operates at local, regional and national levels, and is a collaborative leader.

We recognise that we will need to do things differently to deliver our corporate vision, and we have a core set of values which underpin how we work.

Our digital vision

To deliver a world-class public health system, for a Scotland where everybody thrives, PHS will maximise the power of digital and data to empower individuals, communities, partners and our staff.

Our guiding principles

COVID-19, mental wellbeing, poverty and children, and community and place are the four component parts of our strategy. We will use digital to focus on these areas over the next 3 years.

We will develop a deep knowledge of our users to understand what they need from us through working collaboratively. These users include the public, policy makers, public health partners and innovation partners.

We are committed to leaving no one behind. This will be demonstrated by our approach to digital inclusivity and providing non-digital alternatives for those who are digitally excluded.

Our IT solutions will support existing infrastructure where it is secure, available, reusable, scalable, reliable and can be integrated.

We can be trusted with data and information, ensuring confidentiality and sensitivity.

Our way of working will be agile, and this will empower staff to focus on working solutions.

Our user groups

We carried out extensive consultation and in-depth analysis to identify five key user groups, their needs and our state of readiness to deliver this strategy.

Our digital priorities

Engaging and empowering the public

Use the power of digital to create empowering and personalised relationships with the public

Empower individuals and communities to make better health and wellbeing decisions through personalising our digital interactions.

Creating actionable insight across the public health system

Curate data at a national, regional and local level to support intelligent process and actionable insight

Provide the public health network with rich insight which draws on health, care, education, social and economic data.

Leading digital collaboration across the public health system

Digitally connect the public health network to overcome barriers facing local partners

Enable processes and data to flow between local partners to drive collaboration and reduce health inequalities.

Accelerating digital innovation for the public health system

Lead an ecosystem of digital innovators with industry academics and public health partners

Maximise the intellectual and human capital of different sectors to support digital innovation to protect and improve health and wellbeing

Key digital enablers

Closing the data gap across the public health system

We will be taking a number of foundational and transformational actions over the next 3 years to support closing the data gap across the public health network.

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High-quality, accurate and trusted data enabling collaboration locally, regionally and nationally.

Developing joined-up, scalable, adaptable and easy-to-use IT solutions

Be recognised as a digital innovator, driven by the needs of the public, our partners and our colleagues

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Use cloud-based, interoperable and innovative technologies to enable PHS to react and respond to the changing needs of Scotland.

Building a skilled workforce operating with a digital-first culture

Support colleagues to challenge the way they work, embrace new technologies and actively tackle digital exclusion

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Create a workforce that is confident and ambitious in the use and adoption of technology and digital to improve outcomes.

Delivering the strategy

We acknowledge the need to secure our foundations while, at the same time, delivering digital transformational actions which will enable us to meet our stated ambitions.

We understand the importance for these foundations to be strong. However, we will not sacrifice our ambition to be bold and innovative and continue to explore digital ‘game-changing’ actions alongside these to maintain momentum.

These actions align to our three enabling work streams closing the data gap, developing IT solutions, and our workforce and culture.

The strategy is intended to help us take advantage of the opportunities digital has to offer and transform the way Public Health Scotland connects and interacts with communities and partners to create better public health outcomes for the country.

Read the full version of Public Health Scotland’s Digital Strategy