Public Services Delivery Scotland – Enabling Paper-Light GP Practices Across Scotland

Public Services Delivery Scotland (PSD Scotland) – Formally NHS National Services Scotland (NSS)

Public Services Delivery Scotland (PSD Scotland) brings together NHS Education for Scotland (NES) and NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) into a single national organisation that is designed to speed up modernisation across Scotland’s health, care, and wider public services.

Project Overview

As GP practices across Scotland continue their transition to paper-light working environments, Primary and Community Care (PaCC) required a scalable solution to prevent the ongoing accumulation of paper records.

The objective was simple but critical: ensure that patient records transferring between practices could be digitised before reaching paper-light surgeries, preserving the benefits of previous digitisation initiatives and reducing the burden of physical record storage.

The Challenge

Many GP practices had already completed large-scale back-scanning programmes to digitise their historic patient records. However, despite becoming paper-light, practices continued to receive paper records whenever patients transferred from another surgery.

This created several challenges:

  • Limited storage space within GP practices.
  • Increased administrative workload.
  • Ongoing management of physical records.
  • Reduced long-term value of previous scanning investments.
  • Difficulty maintaining fully digital clinical workflows.

A sustainable process was required to prevent paper records re-entering digitised practices while ensuring information governance, security, and patient record integrity were fully maintained.

Our Solution

Following a full competitive tender process, reviewed by the NHS Scotland’s Procurement Team including information governance specialists, clinical and technical leads, financial representatives, On-Site Scanning Ltd were awarded the contract. We were chosen for our proven experience in primary care, value for money, and ability to deliver secure, end-to-end digitisation at scale.

A managed digitisation service was introduced to intercept paper records destined for paper-light practices and convert them into digital records before delivery.

The service provides:

  • End-to-end record tracking.
  • Secure handling and transportation.
  • High-quality document digitisation.
  • Integration with GP practice systems.
  • Comprehensive quality assurance.
  • Fully auditable retention and destruction processes.

“Right from the start we agreed on open and honest communication, that way if an issue arises it will be quickly resolved, this close working relationship has been a huge part of our success.” – Baljeet Singh, Operations Manager, Public Services Delivery Scotland

Scale and Impact

The service has been designed to support a nationally significant healthcare digitisation programme.

Programme Scale

  • 788 paper-light GP practices supported
  • Approximately 1,048 records processed weekly
  • Full support for seasonal demand fluctuations
  • Scalable framework for future growth as additional practices adopt paper-light working

Benefits Delivered

  • Reduced Paper Storage – Practices no longer need to accommodate growing volumes of incoming paper records, helping maximise limited clinical space.
  • Sustained Paper-Light Operations – The service protects investments made in previous back-scanning projects and prevents paper records from re-entering digital environments.
  • Improved Efficiency – Digital records are delivered directly into existing clinical systems, reducing administration and improving accessibility for healthcare professionals.
  • Enhanced Security and Compliance – Comprehensive tracking, secure transfer protocols, quality assurance procedures, and auditable destruction processes ensure compliance with healthcare information governance requirements.
  • Better Patient Information Access – Integration with Docman and practice clinical systems ensures records are available quickly and efficiently to support patient care.

Results

The programme has established a sustainable, scalable approach to medical record management across Scotland. By digitising records at the point of transfer, GP practices can maintain paper-light workflows while benefiting from secure, compliant, and efficient document management processes.

The solution continues to support Scotland’s wider digital healthcare objectives, providing long-term operational efficiencies and improved management of patient information.

Today, the service supports approximately 788 paper-light GP practices and processes around 1,048 medical records per week, providing a secure, auditable, and efficient record digitisation service across Scotland.

Key Outcome

By digitising patient records before they reach paper-light GP practices, PaCC has helped healthcare providers across Scotland maintain digital-first working practices, reduce paper storage requirements, improve operational efficiency, and ensure full compliance through an auditable end-to-end records management process.