Staff Grade, Associate Specialist & Specialty (SAS) Doctors & Dentists

The Staff, Associate Specialist and Specialty (SAS) Doctors and Dentists Development Programme was established in 2012 as a result of Scottish Government funding to develop SAS doctors and dentists working in NHS Scotland. Funding was initially on a three-year project basis but has now been added to NES’s baseline funding.

There are approximately 1250 SAS grade doctors and dentists working in NHS Scotland. They make up about 25% of the senior medical workforce.

The programme aims to direct national funding to those SAS doctors and dentists whose clinical teams are seeking to develop new or improved clinical services, or to enhance their role within the clinical team, and where funding is not otherwise provided by the employing Health Board. If approved, funding is available to support costs for training, salary backfill, or completion of training to apply for a Certificate of Eligibility for Specialist Registration (CESR). In addition, funding has enabled the creation of a national network of Education Advisers (who are themselves SAS doctors or dentists) to support local SAS doctors and dentists, and to guide them (and their employing Health Boards) to make best use of this funding opportunity.

You can find further information on the SAS Development Programme in these useful documents: 

• Structure and Governance
• 2021 Training Needs Analysis survey report
• SAS Programme Brochure
• 2020-2021 Annual Report 
• 2019-2020 Annual Report
• 2018-2019 Annual Report
• 2017-2018 Annual Report
• 2016-2017 Annual Report
• TNA Scotland Executive Report

The Specialty Doctor contract in 2008 recognised the need for time for appraisal and CPD, and all Specialty contracts should have at least one session of Supporting Professional Activity (SPA) per week to allow time for this.

The GMC has produced CPD guidance for all doctors, emphasising the importance of planning for career progression, patient safety and revalidation.

The BMA has produced a charter for Scottish SAS, produced in conjunction with NHS Scotland and the Scottish Government, formally outlining the rights and responsibilities of SAS doctors and dentists. They also have a webpage on SAS payscales in Scotland.

BMA SAS members have voted in support of a new SAS contract for Scotland, as negotiated by the BMA. The local LNC (local negotiating committee) and BMA team will be working with the board to take this forward - here are the links for the information which is available to date, as well as the recording of the webinar about the new contract:

Details of the new contract SAS contract negotiations (bma.org.uk)

Bernie Scott, Chair of BMA SSASC) Blog Members back new SAS contracts (home.blog)

Dr Lynne Meekison is Associate Postgraduate Dean and Operational Lead for the SAS Programme

Contact: Lynne.Meekison@nhs.scot

SAS Managed Educational Network

Please find below a list of our SAS Education Advisers by health board region.

Please contact SASDevelopment@nes.scot.nhs.uk if you cannot reach your EA, or if you are in NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde where you will be assigned one of our three local EAs.

Who can I contact for more information? 

This page was last updated on: 01.12.2022 at 12.08