Making health and social care services accessible via digital channels wherever appropriate is a key national objective. The data for this section had shown promising progression: 15 percent of service users were engaging with digital channels in 2023, and this figure more than doubled in the 2024 data collection. This progression has stalled and, in some cases, declined for 2025. The share of citizens actively using one or more provided digital channels has fallen back from its 2024 peak, now sitting securely below 30 percent.
The planned national rollout of MyCare.scot provides the primary explanation for this slowdown. Health and social care providers are understandably holding back on further local investment while they await the nationally coordinated solution. Encouragingly, organisational initiatives to reduce inequalities in digital skills and confidence among local populations remain strong, rebounding to 2023 levels — a sign that leadership remains committed to the spirit of digital inclusion even as tactical activity pauses.
Those strategically reliant on digital channels should ensure that the planned unified approach includes methods to check whether potential service users are technically equipped to read and interpret their own records, and that information presented for potential alteration by service users can be understood without formal medical training.
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