Health and Care Scotland specialist group: About us

We are also supporting the biggest Europe's health hackathon where hundreds of health professionals, entrepreneurs, designers and technologists will be spending 75 hours realising the future of health. Participants form into teams to rapidly prototype a new digital health concept over the four days of the event. You don't need to bring your own idea, and you don't need to be technical.

Participating in events like the Discover Digital we focus on service users, patients, carers and citizens. In this way, we promote the importance in impact of digital health and care in Scotland, and we demonstrate and support the drive to see more and better digital health and care assisting citizens and society at large. We also influence young people towards the possibility’s professional pathways in this area and the role of BCS as a Chartered Institute for IT.

Participating in conferences like The Digital Health and Social Care (Digital Week) we collaborate with Technology Enabled Care and Digital Healthcare, Innovation, eHealth Scottish Government teams, NHS 24 (SCTT), Local Government Digital Office, and the ALLIANCE - all these being key innovators, influencers and stakeholders within the health and social care scene in Scotland. Over 360 delegates attended the Digital Health and Social Care Conference, including staff from sectors such as health, social care, housing, voluntary sector, research, policy, technology and academia attended.

Through the BMJ collaboration and the Journal Club we ensure research work is published and available to a variety of users in society. One of the prominent characteristics of a progressive leader in the digital health arena is their commitment to be a lifelong learner. Lifelong learning is defined as the "ongoing, voluntary, and self-motivated" pursuit of knowledge for either personal or professional reasons.

To support the learning needs of members we collaborate in a ‘Journal Club’ offering online sessions with published authors and participate in regular meetings to encourage active learning through reflections and meaningful participation. Attendees have a chance to hear more about published articles, as well as creating the opportunity to ask pertinent questions and to engage in the discussion with like-minded peers from across the globe. They also have the opportunity to reflect on their learning and capture this reflection as evidence on their Continuous Professional Development This record of learning can be uploaded onto a learning log or a Portfolio of Learning hosted by the BCS and curated to fit the changing needs of the individual,

By participating in event such as “techmeetup”, we influence the software development community, by educating and networking in a welcoming and friendly environment.

By collaborating with groups such as The Alliance and DHIC, we ensure we reach key areas of innovation for digital health and care initiatives.

Who we serve and how we engage with our community

The unique rainbow of members on our steering group offers an insight to our community. We are especially delighted to have a constant presence of social care input amongst the group.

This year we continued to offering support to aspiring and existing digital leaders, in health and care and offered those who joined the NHS Digital Academy a potential ready-made network. 

We are also engaging with other BCS communities, such as BCS Women, to find opportunities to influence in a collaborative way, particularly young people with an interest in IT or in the delivery of digital projects.