Executive Chair of InnoScot Health, Graham Watson, considers the opportunities for new intake of clinicians

It is vital that we harness the promise of ever more innovation-ready, tech-savvy young doctors coming into NHS Scotland this month.

With recovery and renewal ongoing, it is of course a challenging time to enter the profession, but after recent agreement on new working terms for junior doctors which underlined their importance to the future of the health service, there are now clear opportunities for them to make their mark.

At the recent NHS Scotland event held in Glasgow, Scotland’s Cabinet Secretary for NHS Recovery, Health and Social Care Michael Matheson asked staff to think about how they can work together to renew the NHS.

He said: “It feels to me that there’s a feeling, to some degree, that it’s always going to be as challenging as it is today. It won’t be. Things will get better. Things will improve, things will change.

“But it won’t happen because of me, and it won’t happen because of Caroline (Lamb, CEO of NHS Scotland).

“It’ll happen because of you and how you take our NHS forward.”

The key aim then in building towards a more sustainable health service is to create an environment where staff feel valued, supported, and empowered – where innovation is essential and every day, but where the workforce represent the true building blocks of transformation thanks to their learnings and practical experiences.

Welcoming a fresh intake of doctors then forms part of an important requirement to bolster the workforce of course, but it also means the opening of new doors, some of which may not yet be imaginable.

Indeed, the benefits of tapping into and supporting junior doctors’ insights and diverse backgrounds should not be underestimated.

Fresh eyes can help to embed game-changing innovation at this crucial juncture for the health service when improving services and making cost savings is pivotal. Now is the time for those who can make a powerful contribution to step forward – and junior doctors are well-placed to do that.

Through meaningful exploration of impactful ideas on how to achieve a healthier, more resilient society, they can play a major part in identifying and defining tomorrow’s solutions today.

If encouraged early on – right from studies and degree programmes onwards – they can be primed to become truly innovation-immersed agents for NHS change.

Fundamentally, it is nothing less than a chance to turn junior doctors into innovation leaders for the future while translating the latest groundbreaking academic thinking into clinical practice.

It is important therefore to immediately empower and encourage this new generation to identify challenges, come up with new, better and more innovative approaches, and be given the support and time to do this. Certainly, their first impressions of existing issues could help to signpost significant positive change, in turn shaking up established practices.

A formal NHS Scotland partner of 20 years, InnoScot Health values those new insights, working closely with, and supporting entrepreneurial, forward-thinking innovators to navigate complex areas such as intellectual property rights, medical device regulation, and funding and investment in order to get vital innovation into patients’ hands.

We are also there to help NHS innovators juggle clinical, commercial, and personal demands.

There is certainly a workforce appetite to push boundaries; an independent survey commissioned by InnoScot Health last year noted that 90% of health service staff agreed innovation was at the heart of improving NHS Scotland services.

The survey further revealed that staff believe big data and analytics, digital apps, and remote monitoring rank among the most important areas for future healthcare innovation – all developing areas in which junior doctors can make a vital contribution and help to pioneer.

Students and junior doctors’ enthusiasm for tackling climate change is also clear and their early involvement can have a huge cumulative effect.

With eyes to the future, they could take a lead in the NHS Scotland drive towards its 2040 Net Zero target which requires urgent change through the help of fresh insights.

The key goals for those forward-thinkers? Lowering greenhouse gas emissions and reducing waste, while adapting to climate change by finding better, greener ways of operating, in tandem with transformation that builds towards a more resilient, resource-efficient, cost-effective health service.

NHS Scotland recently won the Sustainable Healthcare Project of the Year 2023 award at the inaugural European Sustainable Healthcare Awards after their project Green Anaesthesia Scotland was recognised for its focus on reducing the environmental impact of medical gases. A great achievement, but more must follow with junior doctors well placed to lead the push.

However, we also need to open up opportunities for them to get involved and InnoScot Health’s sustainability innovation call could be one such opportunity. It is aimed at encouraging and inspiring the 160,000-strong NHS Scotland workforce to innovate and make a vital contribution to Net Zero. New doctors may see an opportunity to forge ahead with our dedicated support.

We firmly believe that a new generation’s limitless mindset can become synonymous with positive transformation, career advancement, and the breaking of glass ceilings for widespread health and social care benefit.