The Health of Women and Girls: Health and Social Care Policy - Beyond the Women's Health Plan

Introduction

This document is published alongside Phase Two of the Women’s Health Plan and is intended to provide highlights on the breadth of work taking place across the Scottish Government to achieve our ambition, that all women and girls enjoy the best possible health, throughout their lives.

It should be considered alongside the 2025 Gender Policy Coherence Statement, which sets out the action happening across Government to advance gender equality in Scotland.

In August 2021, the Scottish Government published the UK’s first Women’s Health Plan, to address the health inequalities faced by women and girls.

Setting out the ambition that all women and girls enjoy the best possible health, throughout their lives, this document was the first step in a much longer journey towards women’s equity, in health and beyond.

Taking an intersectional lens, the Plan aims to address the inequalities that affect the health of all women and girls in Scotland, in addition to action on specific areas where particular focus is required.

Phase One of the Women’s Health Plan highlighted six ‘priority areas’.

These are;

• Ensure women who need it have access to specialist menopause services for advice and support on the diagnosis and management of menopause;
• Improve access to information for girls and women on menstrual health and management options;
• Improve access for women to appropriate support, speedy diagnosis and best treatment for endometriosis;
• Improve access to abortion and contraception services;
• Ensure rapid and easily accessible postnatal contraception; and,
• Reduce inequalities in health outcomes for women’s general health, including work on cardiac disease.

It laid the foundations for improving the health of women and girls, with 66 short, medium and long term actions which involved changing the culture in women’s health and how we think about the health of women and girls.

Phase Two of the Women’s Health Plan

Phase Two holds fast to the ambitions and principles of the Women’s Health Plan and builds on the areas covered in the 21-24 Plan. It also includes other areas of health that women have told us need additional focus – in particular women’s pelvic floor health and how we optimise future health to ensure women have more years of healthy life.

It prioritises gynaecology, including addressing long waits and the development of sustainable and long term service reform for gynaecology services in NHSScotland, in line with the Service Renewal Framework and its ambitions.