NHS Education for Scotland

What NHS Education for Scotland does

NHS Education for Scotland (NES) is a publicly funded special health board within NHS Scotland, established in 2002 under the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978 with statutory responsibility for developing and delivering education, training, and workforce development for Scotland's health and social care workforce. The organization operates a national footprint anchored by its Edinburgh headquarters and regional offices and dental training centres in Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee, and Inverness, serving the entire Scottish health and care system.

NES operates a platform-plus-services model. Its core digital platform is Turas, which provides unified access (Turas 365 sign-on) to Turas Learn (e-learning), ePortfolios, dashboards, The Knowledge Network digital library, and links to NHS Scotland systems. NES also manages the National Clinical Data Store (NCDS) and Vaccination Management Tool (VMT), which aggregate vaccination and clinical data from GPs, specialist treatment centres, and territorial health boards, and supports the Scottish Government Vaccination Transformation Programme. Additional products include the National Digital Platform (interoperability infrastructure), NHS Scotland Academy (simulation training), Near Me (video consultations), Scotland Deanery, and Scottish Medical Training.

NES is funded entirely through Scottish Government NHS allocation and provides services free at point of use. There is no commercial revenue model, no external investors, and no publicly traded equity. Effective 1 April 2026, NES merged with NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) to form Public Services Delivery Scotland, consolidating digital innovation, workforce development, and shared services into a single national public sector entity.

Name

NHS Education for Scotland

Legal name

NHS Education for Scotland

Website

https://nes.scot.nhs.uk

Company type

Public

Founded year

2002

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

501–1,000 employees

Short description

NHS Education for Scotland is a publicly funded special health board that develops and delivers education, training, workforce development, and digital services for Scotland's health and social care workforce via its Turas platform and National Clinical Data Store.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Edinburgh

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices8 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Public Sector Funding: NES is a special health board within NHS Scotland, funded through Scottish Government NHS allocation. Revenue comes from public funds allocated to support education, training and digital services for the health and social care workforce. No commercial revenue generation.

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

NHS Education for Scotland (NES) is a statutory special health board that develops and delivers education, training, workforce development, data and digital technology services for the health and social care workforce across Scotland. Its core offering is the Turas digital platform and an integrated portfolio of digital services (NHS ePortfolios, The Knowledge Network, National Digital Platform, NCDS/Vaccination Management Tool, Near Me) combined with direct training programme delivery through the NHS Scotland Academy, Scotland Deanery, Mobile Skills Unit and dedicated dental education centres across Scotland.

Product overview

NHS Education for Scotland (NES) operates as a platform-plus-services organisation providing education, training, workforce development, and digital services for Scotland's health and social care workforce. Its primary digital platform is Turas, which encompasses Turas Learn (e-learning), Turas Dashboard, and Turas 365 sign-in, serving as the unified portal for Health and Social Care staff across Scotland. NES also maintains a portfolio of distinct digital products and services including NHS ePortfolios (professional development tracking), The Knowledge Network (digital library), The Portal (NHS Scotland services portal), Scotland Deanery and Scottish Medical Training (medical education platforms), the National Digital Platform (interoperability infrastructure), Near Me (video consulting), EyeCare and MyCare (patient-facing digital tools), the NHS Scotland Academy (simulation and skills training), the Digital and Data Skills Resource Hub, Quality Improvement Zone, iDiabetes (precision medicine framework), and NHS Scotland Careers (recruitment portal). NES also manages the Scottish Vaccinations programme through the National Clinical Data Store and Vaccination Management Tool, with data shared across multiple NHS boards and third-party suppliers. The organisation merged with NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) on 1 April 2026 to form Public Services Delivery Scotland.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Turas: Digital platform for Health and Social Care staff across Scotland providing education, training, and workforce development resources.
• The Portal
• The Knowledge Network
• NHS Scotland Academy

Products and services

• Turas Digital platform for Health and Social Care staff across Scotland providing access to learning resources, workforce tools and digital services, including Turas Learn (e-learning), Turas Dashboard and Turas 365 sign-in.
• NHS ePortfolios Portfolio platform used by healthcare professionals to track and record their professional development, training achievements and competency assessments.
• The Knowledge Network Digital library and knowledge resource hub providing access to clinical guidance, evidence-based resources, journals and databases for health and social care professionals in Scotland.
• National Digital Platform Scotland-wide digital infrastructure initiative designed to enable interoperability across health and social care systems, laying the foundation for integrated digital health and care services.
• Scotland Deanery Platform managing postgraduate medical education, training programmes and career development for doctors in Scotland.
• Scottish Medical Training Platform managing applications and recruitment for medical training programmes across Scotland.
• NHS Scotland Academy National training academy providing simulation training, endoscopy training, ultrasound training and other clinical skills programmes to support NHSScotland workforce development.
• iDiabetes Framework for precision medicine in diabetes, providing digital resources and clinical guidance for diabetes care management.
• NHS Scotland Mobile Skills Unit Mobile training facility delivering simulation-based skills training to health and social care staff, including care home staff, across Scotland including remote and rural areas.
• Scottish Vaccination Programmes National vaccination programmes (Seasonal, Pertussis, Child, Covid, Travel) managed through the National Clinical Data Store (NCDS) and Vaccination Management Tool (VMT), with data shared across Territorial Health Boards, GPs, Public Health Scotland, NSS, and third-party suppliers.

Segments9 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• National Services Scotland (NSS)coreTechnology or IntegrationNES and NSS share vaccination data to support patient care and vaccination invitation programmes. NSS is responsible for collecting a restricted subset of patient records from the National Clinical Data Store and making it available to local Health Boards. NSS also processes data for Test and Protect services.
• Public Health ScotlandcoreTechnology or IntegrationPublic Health Scotland (PHS) uses vaccination and health data for improving and protecting population health. PHS accesses data from NES systems for prioritising vaccination groups and public health functions. PHS carries out data matching to ensure patient records are accurate.
• Territorial Health BoardscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHealth Boards are the local delivery organizations for health services in Scotland. They receive vaccination data from NCDS to make decisions about vaccination invitations. They are joint data controllers with GP practices for patient information.
• Scottish GovernmentcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNES receives reporting information about vaccines and vaccination uptake from NES systems. During public health emergencies, personal data may also be shared. NES operates under Scottish Government health policy direction.
• NHS ScotlandcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNES is one of the organizations forming part of NHS Scotland. As the lead body for digital development in health and social care, NES supports NHS Boards in delivery of health and social care treatment and systems.
• Professional and Regulatory Bodies (NMC, GMC)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNES works with regulatory bodies including Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) and General Medical Council (GMC) for professional education standards, accreditation and workforce planning.
• Educational InstitutionscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNES partners with universities and educational institutions across Scotland for delivery of healthcare education programmes, training placements and professional development.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW): Statutory education body for NHS Wales, parallel to NES. Provides education, training, and workforce development for the Welsh health workforce, with a comparable remit across professions and a similar digital platform approach.
• NHS England - Workforce, Training and Education: The English NHS education and training directorate (formerly Health Education England), responsible for training the largest UK health workforce. Operates the closest functional equivalent of Turas, ePortfolios, and national training programmes that NES runs for Scotland.
• Relias: Healthcare-focused workforce training and compliance platform for hospitals, health systems, and care providers. Closely comparable to NES's blended digital learning and competency-tracking stack.
• Northern Ireland Medical and Dental Training Agency (NIMDTA): Specialist agency responsible for postgraduate medical and dental training in Northern Ireland. Functionally equivalent to NES's Deanery and specialty training functions at a smaller national scale.
• BMJ Learning: Clinical e-learning platform from BMJ (British Medical Journal) offering CME/CPD modules for clinicians globally — competes for the same continuing professional development wallet share as Turas Learn and Knowledge Network.
• HealthStream: US-based healthcare workforce learning and credentialing platform serving hospitals and health systems with e-learning, competency tracking, and ePortfolios — directly analogous to Turas Learn and NHS ePortfolios.

Broad incumbents

• Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh: UK Medical Royal College delivering specialty education, exams, CPD, and training standards for physicians — a partner, not competitor, but operates overlapping specialty education and credentialing functions that intersect NES's Deanery role.
• Wolters Kluwer Health (Lippincott, Ovid): Global medical education and clinical information publisher providing e-learning, journals, and decision-support content for healthcare professionals. Overlaps with NES's Knowledge Network and clinical content library but serves a much wider commercial market.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UC1vTzERRdMu9LJH4ZnnVSfw
• Facebookfacebook.com/NHSEducationforScotland
• Xx.com/NHS_Education

Compliance12 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about NHS Education for Scotland