NHS Scotland has begun the early stages of procuring a new remote health monitoring system, issuing a prior information notice and asking potential suppliers to complete a market research questionnaire by 25 May 2026. A formal contract notice is expected to follow in July, marking the start of competitive tendering.

The notice describes the process as a soft market test. At this stage, NHS Scotland is not committing to a specific solution or supplier. It is gathering information on what the market can currently offer, how migration from existing services might be managed, and what costs would realistically look like. That information will shape the terms of the formal procurement when it opens.

The system being sought would support home and mobile health monitoring, allowing patients to record and share health data from their own homes or community settings. The intended effect is more consistent monitoring, greater capacity for self-management, and a shift toward proactive rather than reactive care. The notice uses the term "multi-channel", indicating that the solution should be accessible through more than one method of communication or data entry.

Scotland already operates a national remote monitoring platform. The Connect Me service handles data collection and patient-reported information through automated telephone calls, text messages, web access, and a mobile application. Any new or replacement system will need to account for the continuity of those functions during transition, and the soft market test specifically asks suppliers to address migration approaches. That is a practical concern: remote monitoring services support patients with ongoing conditions, and a poorly managed handover carries clinical risk.

NHS Scotland held a supplier briefing webinar on 7 May ahead of the questionnaire deadline. The prior information notice stage carries no procurement obligation, but the July contract notice, if it arrives on schedule, would signal that NHS Scotland has completed its market assessment and is ready to proceed. The timeline is relatively tight given the complexity of what is being replaced.

The procurement sits within a period of broader institutional change for digital health in Scotland. The Scottish Government has announced the creation of Public Services Delivery Scotland, a new body that will replace NHS Education for Scotland and NHS National Services Scotland. The new organisation will take on responsibility for workforce, infrastructure, and digital transformation, with the latter described as a particular focus. It will also continue the existing service delivery functions of the two bodies it absorbs. The practical effect on NHS Scotland's procurement activity remains to be seen, but the structural change signals an intent to centralise and accelerate digital programmes across the public sector.

Scotland's digital health and care directorate has separately published a progress update for 2025/26 against its national delivery plan. The update covers digital access, inclusion, services, and the skills required to support them. It reflects a wider pattern of NHS Scotland attempting to move from fragmented digital initiatives toward something more coordinated, though the gap between strategic intent and operational delivery in health technology programmes is often considerable.

One example of digital tools being applied in a specific clinical context is the national cancer prehabilitation programme, developed with Macmillan Cancer Support and the Centre for Sustainable Delivery. The programme uses online resources and remote support to prepare patients for treatment and provide ongoing assistance, reducing the need for hospital attendance where possible. It is one of several programmes using community and home-based digital delivery to manage demand on clinical facilities.

The remote monitoring procurement is the most consequential of these developments in the short term. Connect Me is a functioning national service, and the decision to test the market for alternatives suggests either that the current platform has limitations NHS Scotland wants to address, or that the contract arrangements around it require renewal. The questionnaire responses due by 25 May will clarify what is technically feasible. What happens in July will indicate whether NHS Scotland is prepared to act on what it finds.

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