THE COMMON SERVICES AGENCY

Their core work

NHS National Services Scotland provides centralized health services to Scotland's national health system, including blood transfusion services, epidemiological surveillance, and health protection. In H2020, they contributed real-world clinical and epidemiological data from Scotland's healthcare infrastructure to European research networks focused on vaccine effectiveness, respiratory disease surveillance, and safer medical products. Their value lies in being a national-scale public health data provider with operational responsibility for blood supply and disease monitoring.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Their H2020 journey began with structured vaccine effectiveness research (I-MOVE-plus, 2015-2018) and then expanded significantly in 2020 into two directions: pandemic-driven respiratory disease surveillance (I-MOVE-COVID-19) and medical device innovation with DEHP-free blood bags (ACORN-BP). The COVID-19 pandemic clearly accelerated their engagement, pulling them into broader epidemiological surveillance and spurring investment in safer blood supply products. Their trajectory shows a public body moving from passive participation in monitoring networks toward more applied, product-oriented health innovation.

Moving from pure epidemiological data contribution toward applied health product development, particularly in safer medical supplies — suggesting growing appetite for innovation partnerships beyond surveillance.

How they like to work

Always a participant, never a coordinator — consistent with their role as a national data provider contributing Scottish health system data to large European consortia. With 47 unique partners across just 3 projects, they operate in large, multi-country networks where their value is institutional data access rather than project leadership. They are a reliable, institutional partner that brings real-world health system infrastructure to the table.

Broad European network spanning 47 partners across 19 countries, built primarily through large pan-European health surveillance consortia. Their reach is remarkably wide for just three projects, reflecting the large-scale nature of epidemiological monitoring networks.

What sets them apart

As Scotland's centralized NHS services body, they offer something few partners can: direct operational control over a national blood transfusion service and access to population-level health surveillance data. For consortium builders, this means a single partner who can deliver both real-world clinical data from a national health system and hands-on involvement in medical product supply chains. Their dual capability in disease surveillance and blood product management is an unusual combination among public health bodies.

Highlights from their portfolio

• ACORN-BP
  Largest single grant (EUR 575,909) and an unusual pivot for a public health body — developing commercially viable PVC/DEHP-free blood bags, bridging public health with medical device innovation.
• I-MOVE-COVID-19
  Rapid-response pandemic surveillance network demonstrating their ability to mobilize national health infrastructure for urgent European research coordination.