We're on your side
Workforce wellbeing in Scotland’s NHS has reached a critical point. Following our reception at the Scottish Parliament, MDDUS convened an expert group of senior medical leaders to assess the pressures doctors face and design a blueprint for embedding wellbeing into NHS workforce planning.
The result is Wellbeing by Design, a new report which calls on the next Scottish Government to put doctors’ wellbeing at the centre of NHS workforce planning and sets out practical, evidence‑based recommendations to protect staff and safeguard services.
Download full reportOur five recommendations:
Commissioning a comprehensive national review of doctors’ wellbeing and its impact on patient safety, quality of care and workforce retention.
Setting and publishing a measurable national target to improve doctor wellbeing and reduce burnout, reported annually to Parliament.
Guaranteeing safe workloads, predictable rotas, rest spaces and protected learning time so individuals and teams can deliver sustainable care.
Maintaining and, where necessary, enhancing funding for evidence-based wellbeing support, with investment linked to measurable outcomes.
Publishing an annual State of Doctor Wellbeing in Scotland report, linked to performance and safety, and requiring every Health Board to do the same locally.
A blueprint for change
“The wellbeing of doctors is inseparable from the wellbeing of patients. This report offers a blueprint for change.”
Chris Kenny
Chief Executive
Built with wellbeing in mind
“Patients need doctors who can practise medicine in conditions that protect their wellbeing rather than test it. That requires systems and workplaces built with wellbeing in mind from the outset. Any incoming government that wants to sustain patient services will need to accept that reality.”
Prof. Lindsey Pope
Greenock GP and medical educationalist at the University of Glasgow.
Read the full report:
Download full reportGroup members
- Prof Lindsey Pope, GP and Professor of Medical Education
- Dr Iain Morrison, Chair, Scottish General Practice Committee, British Medical Association
- Dr Chris Provan, Chair, RCGP Scottish Council, Royal College of General Practitioners
- Prof Hany Eteiba, President, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow
- Dr Katharine Jones, GP NHS Highland and founder of Wild-Ness Health
- Melanie Reid, journalist and commentator living with paralysis since a horse-riding accident in 2010
- Dr John Holden, chief medical officer, MDDUS
- Chris Kenny, Chief Executive, MDDUS
- Alison Hardie, Head of Public Affairs and Strategic Communications