Glasgow will be the stage for another big health service showcase: NHS Scotland’s Events Team says the NHS Scotland Event 2026 is set for Monday 21 September at the Technology & Innovation Centre (TIC) at the University of Strathclyde.
The message to potential participants is pretty direct, but it also reads like a genuine attempt to balance ambition with reality. The team notes that each year there is “significant interest” from NHS Scotland and partners, and they’re mindful of the pressures colleagues are under. Still, they want a chance to highlight the “excellent work” happening across the service—because the challenges people face day-to-day don’t exactly pause just because an event call goes out.
There’s also a practical limit in place. The maximum number of bids that can be submitted from each NHS Board/Organisation will be five bids. The Event Programme is designed around work that supports Transforming Health and Care Services through Collaboration, and it will include a mix of formats rather than only one kind of session.
Organisers say the programme will feature 8 x Parallel Sessions, each lasting 75 minutes. Alongside that, there will be 2 x Spotlight Sessions—each Spotlight includes 3 separate presentations, with each presentation allocated up to 20 minutes. In other words, it’s built to let more people get in, but still keep sessions tight enough to hold attention.
For anyone considering putting themselves forward, the Events Team says there are linked “Call for Sessions Guidance” and a session template for further information. If you know of projects or candidates that should be considered, the team asks that details be forwarded for completion. And after bids have been approved, the main contact will need to confirm their details to the Events Team at the NHS Scotland Events mailbox (nhsscotlandevents@gov.scot).
The logistics then move into the online application system. Once details are confirmed, the Events Team will issue login details to upload bids. The deadline for bids to be uploaded is 5pm Tuesday 21 April. Not much room for last-minute scrambles there—5pm is 5pm. One can almost picture the office hum of a late afternoon send-off—keyboards clicking, someone rubbing their eyes, and then realising the upload button might be the slowest part of the whole process.
NHS Scotland’s Events Team says the intention is to make the programme useful and relevant, not just a platform for numbers. Whether that means the “excellent work” ends up leaning more technical, more clinical, or more operational will depend on what bids come in. Either way, the clock is already ticking toward April, with September waiting on the other side.
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