A total of £4.5m will be invested over three years in a national digital intensive weight management programme to support 3,000 people recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.
The programme involves diet replacements such as soups, shakes or bars containing around 900 calories a day for the first 12 weeks. Participants will then receive intensive online support from dietitians, health and well-being coaches as they reintroduce healthy, nutritious food to their diet to maintain weight loss over the 12-month programme.
The project is expected to help around 40% achieve remission from the condition by the end of its first year. The first patients will be recruited into this programme in January 2026.
In addition, two projects will look at pharmacogenetics – how a person's genetics affect their response to certain drugs.
A total of £1.1m will support testing of recent stroke patients to determine if they have a genetic variation that impairs the benefits of a drug commonly prescribed to reduce the risk of secondary stroke and which would mean an alternative drug should be considered for them.
Building on a successful trial in NHS Tayside, patients who have had a stroke will receive a lab-based genetic test to identify if they are one of the 30% of people have a genetic variation that means they do not respond to a drug commonly prescribed to reduce the risk of a secondary stroke. This programme will begin in October and be rolled out to all territorial boards within 12 months. Once fully implemented, the programme will test around 60,000 patients over three years, with an estimated 20,000 given a different drug which will work for them.
A programme to provide a genetic test for newborn babies will also receive £800,000 funding to determine if they have a genetic variation which puts them at risk of permanent hearing loss if they are treated with a common emergency antibiotic.
Building on a successful trial at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, newborn babies will receive a point-of-care genetic test to quickly establish whether they are one of the 0.2% at risk of permanent hearing loss. If they are, they are treated with a common emergency antibiotic. This programme will begin in October and be rolled out to all territorial boards within 18 months. Once fully adopted more than 3,000 newborn babies a year will be tested, with those that require an alternative antibiotic receiving it.
Cabinet secretary for health, Neil Gray, said: ‘In January the First Minister laid out our vision for Scotland's NHS with digital innovation being a crucial part of our plans to reform health services. So I am pleased to announce funding for these projects, which demonstrate the transformative potential of scientific and technological innovation to improve health and social care.
‘These projects have life-changing effects for those who will benefit from them, resulting in improved health outcomes and a better quality of life.
‘Innovation is transforming healthcare and delivering medical benefits for the people of Scotland and the NHS, which will see reduced pressures as a direct result of projects just like these.'
The Accelerated National Innovation Adoption pathway is coordinated by the national Centre for Sustainable Delivery at NHS Golden Jubilee. It draws on expertise from NHS National Services Scotland, Healthcare Improvement Scotland, Public Health Scotland and NHS Education for Scotland.
