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NHS Dumfries and Galloway is an NHS board serving the Dumfries and Galloway region in south-west Scotland. It is one of the fourteen territorial boards of NHS Scotland. NHS Dumfries and Galloway provides acute, primary, community, and mental health services for its population, and also supports public health programmes across the region.
The board was established following the dissolution of several NHS trusts which provided healthcare services in the Dumfries and Galloway area: Dumfries and Galloway Acute and Maternity Hospitals NHS Trust, Dumfries and Galloway Community Health NHS Trust, and Dumfries and Galloway Primary Care NHS Trust. These were dissolved between 1999 and 2003.[4][5]
In October 2021, Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary suspended elective clinical procedures due to increased demand and staffing shortages exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Urgent and cancer-related care continued.[6]
In 2023, the board reported ongoing workforce challenges, particularly in rural hospitals, and outlined recruitment initiatives to attract healthcare staff to the region.[7]
The population served is around 148,500 within a large geographical area of about 2,400 square miles (6,200 km2). Dumfries and Galloway stretches from Langholm in the east to Stranraer in the west, and from Kirkconnel and Carsphairn in the north down to the Solway Coast. There are multiple community hospitals throughout the region and an intermediate unit, including maternity and surgical services, in Stranraer.[8]
The board uses an electronic shared care record system developed with Graphnet, designed to integrate data across primary, community, and secondary care in real time.[9][10]
Within Dumfries
Outwith Dumfries
