Skip to main content
NHS National Services Scotland Home

Design support

Published on 05 October 2020

Design quality effects the safety, wellbeing and sustainability of our health and care facilities. Design directly impacts our users, staff and service outcomes. NSS Health Facilities Scotland (HFS) provide NHS Boards and their supply chains with support and advice to optimise the design of their facilities. Our NSS team has access to:

  • Architects
  • Building services engineers
  • Clinicians
  • Decontamination
  • Energy managers
  • Facility managers
  • Fire advisors
  • Infection prevention control team
  • Landscape architects
  • Safety advisors
  • Surveyors
  • Sustainability advisors

How we can help

Through NHSScotland Design Assessment Process (NDAP), our team support NHS Boards to match design standards to their key investment aims, objectives and expectations. We also demonstrate delivery via independent and self-assessments.

NDAP supports continuous improvement by sharing design standards and learning from similar projects. This approach helps us build upon the best of what has gone before. NDAP provides support in partnership with Scottish Government and Architecture & Design Scotland.

We cover the design development at all stages of both new and of existing health and care facilities. Support includes:

  • Provision of NHSScotland’s facility Guidance publications related to property, planning and design.
  • Lead and administration of NDAP mandated for all investments requiring Scottish Government approval, but recommended for all design. The NDAP guide and NDAP form are available from the "Supporting guidance" section of the Scottish Capital Investment Manual (SCIM) web page.
  • Facilitation of stakeholder workshops
    • Achieving Excellence Design Evaluation Toolkit. The AEDET guide and AEDET spreadsheet are available from the "Supporting guidance" section of the Scottish Capital Investment Manual (SCIM) web page.
      • HAI SCRIBE training
      • Design & Technical briefing for NHS facility developments.
  • Advice and audits of existing NHSScotland facilities for safety/compliance or best practice.
  • Input to NHSScotland's estate and facility safety alerts and incident reporting.
  • Design & Technical enquiries and support.

Get in touch

For more information on how Design support can help you, email us at NSS.hfsenquiries@nhs.scot with ‘Design’ in subject header.