Health Secretary urges those eligible to get flu vaccine
Health Secretary Neil Gray has updated parliament on winter preparations for the NHS, urging people to take up the flu vaccine and confirming up to £20 million to bolster social care capacity.
The £20 million investment will be targeted at initiatives by health boards to increase social care capacity and provide extra support at the front door of A&Es, which will reduce admissions and relieve pressure on acute services.
Mr Gray also warned of the potential impact of the flu virus this winter, with emerging evidence suggesting an early and potentially difficult flu season. He urged everyone eligible to get their vaccination, particularly children and young people who can transmit the virus to vulnerable family members and friends.
To help deal with increased winter pressures, the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) will recruit more than 290 new frontline A&E staff this year, including newly qualified paramedics and ambulance care assistants.
To ensure callers are dealt with more efficiently this winter, NHS 24 has also implemented a new call centre system backed by £5 million of investment. Over 90% of callers triaged by NHS 24 as needing an ambulance response now have their call information transferred and referred digitally – this removes repetitive stages of the call process and significantly speeds up the process for patients.
The Health Secretary has also directed health boards to undertake a new approach, working together to plan digital care and business systems, and make best use of available capacity for orthopaedic elective services – ensuring patients receive the care they need as soon as possible.
Health Secretary Neil Gray said: “We know pressure on the system exacerbates over winter and I am determined to ensure that pressure is relieved as much as possible. We have been preparing plans for this winter season throughout the past year with NHS boards and local authorities.
“Our investment of £20 million will be crucial in our efforts to bolster social care capacity, reduce unnecessary hospital admissions and ensure people receive the right care in the most appropriate setting.
“A key part of our winter response is prevention and our national flu vaccination programme is well underway. Vaccination is one of the best ways to protect our own health and those around us – with flu cases rising and initial evidence suggesting this may be an early and potentially difficult flu season, I urge all those who are eligible to get vaccinated.
“We have significantly increased Scottish Ambulance Service staffing and we are investing in capacity in our NHS 24 call centres so that people are getting the right support quickly and when they need it.
“Our dedicated health and social care staff are the cornerstone of our winter response every year – they will continue to work tirelessly in the coming months to provide excellent care, and I thank them for their outstanding efforts.”
The funding of £20 million comes from the 2025-26 health and social care budget to deliver improvements in urgent and unscheduled care and patient flow, linked to the Operational Improvement Plan.
Winter planning is undertaken collaboratively between health boards and local authorities and the Scottish Government has worked with the NHS and COSLA to ensure local plans are underpinned by consistent national principles.
These are set out in publication of “National Planning Priorities and Principles for Surge and Winter Preparedness in Health and Social Care”
Responding to the Scottish government’s £20 million funding announcement to boost social care capacity this winter, alongside its National Planning for Winter and Surge Pressures in Health and Social Care, unveiled this week (13 November 2025), RCEM Vice President for Scotland Dr Fiona Hunter said: “We welcome and recognise this much needed investment into social care.
“Even though this funding is not for care happening inside the walls of Emergency Departments, bolstering social care capacity is one of the best ways to make sure people can leave hospital when they are deemed medically well enough to do so.
“Last winter, from November to February, there were 1,991 patients stuck in hospital each day, despite being well enough to leave. That was a record. We can’t let a new record be set this year.
“We need these beds. Patients are spending extreme hours in our departments waiting for that elusive ward bed to become available, often in a corridor, on a trolley or another inappropriate space.
“However, this burst of funding could be too little, too late, to make a meaningful difference this winter. We are already in November and on the cusp of what will be gruelling months ahead for both our workforce, and our patients.
“Further winter plans announced place too much emphasis on attendance avoidance – diverting people away from ED. While this is of course welcome, the crisis in which our EDs find themselves has not been caused by an increase in demand.
“The number of people attending our departments this summer was lower than it was in 2019, yet 20 times as many people this year waited 12 or more hours to be admitted, discharged or transferred.
“And we know this is where the harm lies for our patients in ED.
“The announcement is a good start at a time when the health service is about to enter what will be yet another very challenging winter. But the crisis in our Emergency Departments is taking a heavy toll on our members, and their colleagues.
“We need continued support and action from the government to address these deep-rooted long-term problems that are no longer confined to winter.”
