Health in Scotland

Across Scotland, there are significant differences within health outcomes between the most deprived and wealthiest areas of the country. Scotland has a significantly shorter life expectancy amongst the countries of the United Kingdom as well as the rest of Western Europe. The Scottish Government has introduced a number of measures, including the establishment of Public Health Scotland in April 2020 as the public health agency responsible for increasing healthy life expectancy and reduce premature mortality. Public Health Scotland acknowledge that Scotland has a "number of significant public health challenges" including drug related deaths, environmental sustainability and climate change.

Across all OECD countries, Scotland ranks in the bottom 36% in health, whilst it ranks in the top 24% of OECD countries in life satisfaction. Health in Scotland is the responsibility of the Scottish Government, with the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care responsible for government policy, NHS Scotland and performance across healthcare. Other significant positions responsible for health across the country include the National Clinical Director of Healthcare Quality and Strategy and the Chief Medical Officer for Scotland.

Following Scottish devolution 1999, all areas of responsibility for health and social care policy and funding became devolved to the Scottish Parliament, whilst a few aspects of Scottish health policy, such as surrogacy, remain reserved powers of the UK government. Prior to the re–establishment of a Scottish Parliament in 1999 following Scottish devolution, Scotland still had a separate health care system from the rest of the United Kingdom between 1948 until 1999, with the Scotland Office responsible for health care policy and NHS funding in the country. Following devolution, those powers, amongst others, were transferred to the Scottish Government.

NHS Scotland spending per head of the population in Scotland was estimated at £2,396 per person in 2018–19. The Scottish Cabinet member for Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care is directly responsible for all areas of health and social care in Scotland for which the Scottish Parliament has devolved powers over, and is supported in their capacity by the Minister for Public Health and Women's Health, Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport and the Minister for Drugs and Alcohol Policy. The Scottish Government is also responsible for creating and implementing public health initiatives and promoting and protecting the health and wellbeing of the population across the country.

The responsibility of implementing health care approaches is primarily the responsibility of the fourteen different NHS Scotland health boards across the country. They are directly accountable to Scottish Government ministers and ultimately responsible to the Scottish Parliament. On 1 April 2016, it became mandatory for all NHS Scotland health boards and local authorities across Scotland to integrate some aspects of health and social care services.

Healthcare in Scotland is mainly provided by Scotland's public health service, NHS Scotland. It provides healthcare to all permanent residents free at the point of need and paid for from general taxation. Health is a matter that is devolved, and considerable differences have developed between the public healthcare systems in the different countries of the United Kingdom. In 2011, the Scottish Government, lead by the Scottish National Party (SNP), abolished prescription charges. As a result, any Scottish prescription prescribed to patients by a doctor in Scotland and for dispensing in Scotland would be provided free of charge. The Scottish Government has remained committed to free prescriptions in the country and have no current plans to reintroduce any form of charge for prescriptions, in spite of a suggestion that the reintroduction of charges could generate £50 million for NHS Scotland. Though the public system dominates healthcare provision, private healthcare and a wide variety of alternative and complementary treatments are available for those willing to pay.

There has been no evidence provided through various studies which define the abolition of prescription charges in Scotland as being either an effective or ineffective policy when it comes to reducing the number of hospital admissions. A 2025 report from Audit Scotland into NHS Scotland highlighted the need for reform in the service, particularly regarding the way the Scottish Government scrutinises the NHS regarding its operations.

In Scotland, all children aged between 13–18 years are vaccinated against Tetanus, Diphtheria and Polio, commonly when they are in secondary school in Third year. Additionally, children in S3 and S4 receive a vaccination against MenACWY. In their first year of secondary school, children are routinely vaccinated against HPV, whilst all children in both primary and secondary school are offered yearly Influenza vaccination usually between September–December. Data obtained by Public Health Scotland show that boys are less likely to take all three vaccines against girls. Vaccinations for children are commonly offered whilst they are at school, and conducted by health professionals from NHS Scotland, such as a school nurse.