The College has today (Wednesday 2 September 2026) renewed its call for a focus on the wellbeing of the healthcare workforce to support patient care following the announcement of “radical change” to the NHS in Scotland.
In its Programme for Government, the Scottish Government announced the country’s health boards would be reduced to two in some of the most significant changes to the NHS in a generation.
Professor Hany Eteiba, President of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, said: “Our health service has for many years been struggling to cope with the level of demand and increasing complexity of care. We all want reform to achieve the same outcome: a sustainable, safe and high-quality service for every person in Scotland.
“Change must be powered by a workforce that feels valued and well. When the workforce is exhausted, the entire system becomes fragile. The reform programme must involve the workforce in decision-making to enable successful change, as well as continuity of care during the transition.
“We ask the Scottish Government to place people – both patients and the healthcare workforce – at the heart of improvement. As the UK’s only multidisciplinary royal college, we stand ready to work with the Scottish Government and partners to help deliver successful NHS change, with people at its core.”
In March this year, the College published its manifesto ahead of the 2026 Scottish Parliament election: A Sustainable Future for Health. It made three asks of policy makers:
- To actively support a sustainable workforce to deliver quality assured patient care
- To deliver a sustainable system which supports efficiency and prevention
- To build a healthy environment for people and the planet, including investing in care in the community, developing green infrastructure for a carbon neutral NHS, and structuring a healthy environment to support population health.
The College has also signed a joint open letter with MDDUS, the Royal College of General Practitioners, the BMA’s Scottish General Practice Committee and others to urge the Scottish Government to embed wellbeing into the programme of change from the outset, not add it once new structure are in place.
It follows the publication of Wellbeing by Design, which set out why doctors’ wellbeing must be a condition of safe, effective healthcare rather than an optional extra.