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

1 Women’s Health Across the Lifecourse

Getting It Right For Everyone (GIRFE)

Through the Focus Groups held to inform the Phase Two of the Women’s Health Plan, women and girls articulated to the Scottish Government the challenges they face in getting the health and care support they want and need. Getting It Right For Everyone (GIRFE) is the practice model shaping how public services in Scotland are designed and delivered – and making sure we get it right for women and girls.

The model supports people from young adulthood to end of life care, and as such will take into account the needs of women and girls across the lifecourse from puberty to support in older age. It brings the person, their families, carers and all the people providing services together to create a holistic joined-up care and support plan that is coordinated by one professional. This plan looks at all their needs across different services to make sure they get the best possible outcomes.

The Scottish Government is committed to embedding GIRFE in health and social care across Scotland. A Toolkit and e learning modules have been prepared for professionals to help them use this approach in their everyday work.

Access to care and support in Primary Care

The Scottish Government is driving the priority aim of shifting the balance of care closer to home through the expansion of primary care and community services, ensuring people can get the right care, in the right place, at the right time.

A ‘Year One’ commitment in the SRF is to publish a detailed Primary Care and Community Health Route Map. This Route Map will set out the actions and work that is needed for improving access to services and treatments in the community (workforce, infrastructure, systems), clarify the role and services to be delivered in the community, and support leadership and cohesion in our health services in the community.

General Practice

The Scottish Government has increased the funds available to Health Boards to contract enhanced services from GP practices by £4 million, including for long acting reversible contraception (LARC). Boards are now able to agree increased fees with GP practices to provide these services. It is hoped that this will enable more practices to consider increasing their LARC offer to women and increasing the availability of effective contraception.

“It should be the same GP all the time, all the way through, so that they really get to know you and that you have continuity of care.” - BHF Focus Group, Participant 3

Women have described how they would value continuity of care, so healthcare professionals have a holistic understanding of their health history and have built a trusted relationship. The Scottish Government have recently announced an investment of an additional £310m over three years (subject to parliamentary approval) to increase workforce capacity in general practice with the intention of improving continuity of care.

The NHS Operational Improvement Plan sets out the Scottish Government’s intention to continue to increase capacity in General Practice in 2025-26.

An action plan on General Practitioner (GP) Recruitment and Retention, published in November 2024, builds on previous work to support the GP workforce. It includes new GP early career fellowships and an enhanced GP Retainer Scheme. This action plan will be delivered by the end of 2026 and an update setting out progress and next steps published in March 2026. The Scottish Government will also scope a new quality framework to make GP services more consistent across Scotland, so everyone can rely on getting the care they need, no matter where they live.

In February 2025, the Scottish Government launched the updated Transforming Roles Paper 6. This sets out the critical role played by General Practice Nurses (GPNs) in managing of long-term conditions, improving women’s health and providing holistic, individualised care to their practice population.

The Scottish Government and NHS Education for Scotland (NES) are working with GPN Professional Leads and employers across Scotland to ensure that they understand the changes to the role and to provide the best outcomes for their individual practice populations, with a particular focus on women and girls.

NES have also launched a GPN Knowledge and Skills Framework to support the implementation, linked to the provision of a range of educational resources. The Scottish Government is working with NES to understand what training, skills and educational resources GPNs need to address women’s health needs, such as cervical screening, menopause, contraception and sexual health.

Community Pharmacy

The network of community pharmacies across Scotland offer increased access to emergency contraception and bridging contraception (progestogen-only pill POP) at no cost to women and usually with no appointment needed.

NHS Pharmacy First Scotland provides advice, treatment and referral, if necessary, for a number of women’s health issues, for example cystitis, period pain and thrush as well as providing antibiotics for specific common clinical conditions such as uncomplicated UTIs in women.

The NHS Pharmacy First Service provided treatment for over 101,000* cases of uncomplicated Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs) in women in the 2024/25 financial year^[6], reducing the need for GP practice appointments for this common condition.

Community pharmacies are well placed to have an enhanced role in public health and prevention. The Scottish Government will continue to consider how pharmacies can support increased access to advice and treatment for women’s health issues.

Violence Against Women and Girls

Violence Against Women and Girls^[7] (VAWG) damages health and wellbeing, is a violation of women’s human rights and is a key public health issue for Scotland.

Women and children who experience VAWG are at increased risk of experiencing inequality of outcomes throughout their life, including lower levels of physical and mental wellbeing. The physical, emotional, reproductive and psychological consequences of violence and abuse are significant predictors of poor health and strong risk factors for the poor health outcomes highlighted in the Women’s Health Plan. These include physical injuries, unplanned or unwanted pregnancies, eating disorders, STIs and increased risk of suicide.

Equally Safe is Scotland’s strategy to prevent and eradicate all forms of violence against women and girls (VAWG). The Strategy is clear that it is everyone’s responsibility to create a Scotland where women and girls are safe and have the potential to live flourishing and fulfilling lives, to challenge and transform the attitudes and beliefs that perpetuate, excuse and attempt to legitimise VAWG. The health sector is key to this as a trusted universal service that can act as an entry-point to support.

People who have experienced rape, sexual assault or child sexual abuse have suffered a grave violation of their human rights. A Sexual Assault Response Coordination Service (SARCS) is available in every health board area, providing vital healthcare and forensic examination services for people in the days following an assault.

SARCS is open to everyone, however we know that 95% of recorded rape and attempted rape, and 86% of sexual assault victims in Scotland in 2024-25 were women^[8].

The Scottish Government is continuing to invest in SARCS, including funding a dedicated national telephony service within NHS 24 so that people can self-refer to a SARCS, ongoing awareness raising activity to promote the service and developing the SARCS workforce through investment in training for doctors and nurses.

Work is also ongoing to embed the recently revised and published Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) standards for healthcare and forensic medical services, which have been updated to reflect changes to legislation, progress in guidance and policy and our ambitions for SARCS over time.

Non-fatal strangulation’, sexual strangulation or ‘choking’ is a form of male violence against women which puts them at increased risk of injury and death. According to the Institute for Addressing Strangulation, the evidence would suggest strangulation is the second most common cause of stroke in young women and that there is a need for greater public awareness. Phase Two of the Women’s Health Plan will explore this further.

Reports to Police Scotland show that women are the most common victims of spiking. Through the continued work of the Scottish Government Roundtable on Spiking, the Scottish Government have established a national approach to ensuring that people who present to A&E receive clear and consistent advice regarding the roles of health professionals and the police when they report incidents of spiking, which will reassure them about the service they will receive. This approach has been endorsed by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine.

In addition, the NHS digital system will be updated to include a spiking keyword, which will help to identify and support potential cases of spiking. Over time this will provide important data on previous unrecorded incidents and allow us to better understand the extent to which these lead onto formal reporting to Police Scotland. This a first in the UK and something which the Scottish Government anticipate will be adopted elsewhere. This is part of a collaborative approach taken by the Scottish Government, NHS24 and Police Scotland as part of ongoing work to raise awareness of the dangers of spiking.

NHSScotland’s Gender-Based Violence Workforce Policy, published in August 2025, aims to provide a consistent, national approach to supporting employees affected by gender-based violence. Accompanied by a guide on sexual harassment, the policy and supporting documents offer clear guidance and resources to raise awareness, promote safety, and ensure appropriate workplace responses. This will help foster a more informed, compassionate, and supportive environment for all staff, particularly women and girls.

The Mental Health and Wellbeing of Women and Girls

Women and girls are disproportionately impacted by poverty, which can lead to social isolation, anxiety, depression and stress^[9].

Greater caring responsibilities and the everyday threat of violence against women and girls can also adversely impact mental health. Childbirth is associated with an increased risk of mental ill health in mothers. Periods of transition often put extra stress on children and young people’s pre-existing resilience and coping strategies. The late teenage years are a point when mental wellbeing can decline. Young women in particular are more likely to report this and it can also be the point of onset of serious mental illness.

Teenage years are also a stage in life where the increased use of online communities and social media can impact mental health, especially for young women. Experiences of bullying, harassment and abusive behaviour put young people at higher risk of poor mental health^[10]

Findings from the Focus Groups carried out for Phase Two of the Women’s Health Plan illustrated concerns around mental health and wellbeing in women and girls throughout the lifecourse.

• Girls noted they are left out of discussions around mental health – with minimal attention paid to their mental health and wellbeing in discussions around women’s health.
• Managing anxiety and stress during puberty was a specific topic of concern for many young women.
• Older women raised mental health as important area of health, particularly as it relates to many other areas of women’s health including menopause, unpaid caring responsibilities and feelings of loneliness.
• Women who had experience of substance use had incredible difficulty accessing mental health treatment.

The Scottish Government published the Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy in June 2023. It sets out the shared vision of the Scottish Government and of COSLA to improve mental health and wellbeing in Scotland. The accompanying Delivery Plan and Workforce Action Plan were published in November 2023 and will be refreshed following the Election in 2026.

The voices of women are part of the delivery of the Strategy, Delivery Plan and Workforce Action Plan through the Mental Health Equality and Human Rights Forum and Diverse Experience Advisory Panel, which includes Engender and the Scottish Women’s Convention.

The Scottish Government has continued investment in the communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for adults, including via a Programme for Government (PfG) commitment of £30m funding until 2027. The Fund aims to target inequalities of at risk groups, including women, and the National Guidance highlights the importance of considering the six priority families, which feature women strongly. In the first four years of the Fund, 988 projects supported women.

Early intervention and prevention is a key focus. School counselling support is now in place through secondary schools across Scotland. 64% of those young people who accessed school counselling in 2024/25 were girls and young women, as were 52% of the nearly 80,000 children and young people who benefited from community-based mental health and wellbeing supports focused on prevention.

The Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Fund has provided peer support, counselling and befriending to over 16,200 parents, expectant parents and infants since 2020. The Scottish Government has continued to invest in mental health services and support for parents, infants and families, to ensure that children get the best start in life. This included a £1.5 million investment for the third sector from October 2024-March 2026.

The Scottish Government is also implementing core Mental Health Quality Standards and the Psychological Therapies and Interventions Specification^[11]. These aim to improve experience and outcomes and ensure that support is person-centred and free from discrimination or stigma, and will help support mental health services to meet the needs of all individuals who need to access them, including women.

Equality and human rights considerations are central to the standards, which were designed to ensure an individual’s care should be based on the evidence of their assessed needs, what is most likely to help them and crucially, what is important to them. They place key emphasis on kindness, compassion, dignity and respect when accessing services.

Eating Disorders

We know that the majority of eating disorder cases are women and girls.

Improving eating disorder services across Scotland is a key priority for the Scottish Government, and we are continuing to deliver the recommendations from the National Review of Eating Disorder Services.

The National Eating Disorders Network was established in 2024 to help improve training, skills development, and public health strategies. With the help of the Network, the Scottish Government is delivering on the medium and longer term recommendations of the National Review. Key areas of progress include:

• Supporting implementation of the National Specification.
• Producing content for NHS inform, providing free and accessible information and advice on eating disorders for people in Scotland.
• Developing and delivering further training for NHS colleagues.

The National Specification for the Care and Treatment of Eating Disorders in Scotland was published on 20 November 2024 and outlines national standards of care which will support local services to deliver person-centred, safe and effective care and covers all levels of treatment for eating disorders, from primary care all the way through to specialist inpatient care.

Self-harm

Self-harm is a significant concern among children and young people in Scotland, with evidence indicating that 10% of under 16 year olds and 25% of those aged 16-24 have self-harmed at some point.

Self-harm appears to be most prevalent among young women, with girls over three times more likely to report self-harm than boys^[12].

Self-Harm can affect anyone of any age, gender or background, however evidence suggests that it is more prevalent amongst young women and other marginalised groups.

The Self-Harm Strategy and Action Plan (2023–27) places a strong emphasis on early intervention, including work to embed self-harm awareness, training and resources in schools, colleges, and universities, and within national parenting programmes.

The strategy is being delivered in partnership with Self-Harm Network Scotland (SHNS), which provides tailored support and information via a national website, live chat, and peer practitioner support for anyone aged 12 and over, as well as support for loved ones of people who self-harm.

The next phase of the Strategy will place increased emphasis on embedding self-harm awareness and resources across key settings. It will also focus on ensuring that supports are appropriately tailored to meet the specific needs of diverse and often underserved groups, including young people, neurodivergent and LGBT+ people and women in the perinatal period.

Suicide Prevention

Every suicide is a tragedy with a far-reaching impact on family, friends and the community. The national suicide prevention strategy, Creating Hope Together, aims not only to reduce suicide deaths in Scotland but also to address the inequalities that contribute to suicide risk.

It is recognised that that women may face increased risks to their mental wellbeing at various stages of life – for example during the perinatal period, and/or during menopause and that for some women this can increase the risk of suicide.

While suicide deaths are more common among men, research suggests that women are significantly more likely to attempt suicide – potentially up to three times more often^[13].

Through Suicide Prevention Scotland, the Scottish Government is delivering a programme of work in communities across the country with a clear focus on tackling the inequalities which increase the risk of suicide. This is set out in detail in Suicide Prevention Scotland’s annual report but examples of work which have particular relevance to women and girls include:

• Highlighting the links between violence against women and girls (VAWG) and suicide risk and creating opportunities to bring together people across Scotland who are working in both topic areas.
• Engaging with organisations working with communities who experience stigma, discrimination and the socio-economic factors associated with an increased risk of suicide. This has included women who are LGBTQI+, young women and women who have experienced domestic abuse. We continue to use this learning to shape policy and delivery of suicide prevention work.
• Working closely with carer organisations to produce a range of useful and informative digital materials specifically designed and written with a focus on the specific needs of unpaid carers, the majority of whom are women. These will be framed around the principles of ‘Time Space Compassion’ which are central to our work to support people in crisis or affected by suicide in any way.

The Scottish Government will shortly be publishing the new Suicide Prevention Action Plan for the period 2026 – 2029. This will build on the existing work, and significant insights gathered over the period of the current action plan and reflect emerging / new evidence on suicide prevention.

We are working with communities and services, to help people talk more openly about suicide and make sure compassionate support is in place for anyone affected by suicide. This includes an understanding that women and girls may need different approaches and this will also be influenced by other life circumstances.

In 2025, we launched a national suicide awareness raising campaign and website to support the needs of anyone affected by suicide. This support is for people who may themselves be at risk of suicide, as well as those who care for them – as professionals or as family/friends. This has included the experiences of one young woman who has attempted suicide and two women who have lost someone to suicide.

Neurodivergence

The Scottish Government continues to work with NHS Boards, local authorities, COSLA, the third sector and other partners to improve neurodevelopmental support across the life span for children, young people and adults, including women and girls. A recent NAIT article highlighted the diagnosing of neurodivergent girls and women in Scotland, and the need to recognise gender bias, provide gender informed information and to improve data collection to monitor equity in access and outcomes.

For children and young people, the National Neurodevelopmental Specification sets out the standards all services should follow to ensure they receive the neurodevelopmental support they need, when they need it. The Specification makes clear that a diagnosis is not required to access support and a needs-based approach should be taken. A joint COSLA and Scottish Government review of implementation of the Specification was carried out in 2025, and a new Children and Young People’s Neurodevelopment Taskforce has been set up to drive forward improvements and support further implementation of the Specification.

For adult neurodevelopment, we fund the National Autism Implementation Team (NAIT), which is currently supporting NHS Boards to develop, enhance and redesign existing local adult neurodevelopmental services. We have launched the next phase of our £2.5m multi-year Autistic Adult Support Fund, which aims to help autistic adults understand what neurodivergence means for them and improve their wellbeing. Details of the funded organisations, including the type of support they are offering and where it is being offered, can be found here. We continue to fund NHS Education for Scotland (NES) and NAIT to deliver professional learning on neurodevelopmental conditions to upskill staff across a range of services and sectors.

Learning Disabilities

LD Annual Health Checks

The Scottish Government wants people with learning disabilities to live longer and healthier lives. Offering annual health checks is big step towards fulfilling that ambition. In 2022, the Scottish Government issued National Directions requiring NHS Boards to deliver annual health checks to people aged 16 and over with learning disabilities. The aim of the annual health checks is to reduce health inequalities and prevent premature deaths of people with learning disabilities from treatable illnesses and conditions. The Scottish Government is providing £2 million of funding annually to NHS Boards to deliver this vital policy and LD Annual Health checks are now being delivered to thousands of people across Scotland, bringing positive results.

The LD Annual Health Check supports the health of women and girls by covering key areas such as periods, endometriosis, PCOS, menopause and screening programmes including breast and cervical.

Parents with Learning Disabilities

People with learning disabilities have the same rights to be parents as those without disabilities. A common barrier faced by parents with learning disabilities is negative assumptions that are made regarding their parenting abilities. Most children with a parent(s) with learning disabilities are in care. Approximately 10% of children live with their birth parent(s).

Parents with learning disabilities and their children experience significant mental health impacts caused by child protection processes. Parents with learning disabilities are not always given the advocacy, legal support, and accessible information they require to enable them to fully understand and engage with processes.

The Scottish Government commissioned the Scottish Learning Disability Observatory (SLDO) to carry out a research project looking at local support available to parents with learning disabilities and to understand the decision making processes and roles of the different social care teams involved. We are currently considering the recommendations in the report and as a first step in progressing work to support parents with learning disabilities, the Scottish Commission for People with Learning Disabilities (SCLD) are carrying out a review and refresh of the Scottish Good Practice Guidelines for Supporting Parents with Learning Disabilities.

Cancer

The Scottish Government published the Cancer Strategy for Scotland 2023-2033 along with an initial three year Cancer Action Plan for Scotland 2023 – 2026 in June 2023. The Strategy includes a specific, early focus on improving outcomes for women^[14].

The aim of the Strategy is to improve cancer survival and provide excellent, equitably accessible care. The strategy and plan take a comprehensive approach to improving patient pathways from prevention and diagnosis through to treatment and post-treatment care.

The strategy is improving survival and quality care for women and girls by:

• Striving for cervical cancer elimination Coverage for the HPV vaccination programme in Scotland remains high – but has been declining in recent years, a trend witnessed throughout the UK. This decline in immunisation uptake rates has been observed across the UK and globally. However, uptake of one dose of HPV vaccine for all S1 pupils slightly increased in 2024/25^[15], with overall coverage rates of 72.6%, compared with 71.5% in 2023/24.

Evidence^[16] shows that there have been no cases of cervical cancer caused by HPV types targeted by the vaccine in fully vaccinated women who were given their first dose at aged 12 or 13 years old since the HPV programme was first introduced in 2008. The Elimination of Cervical Cancer is a priority for Phase Two of the Women’s Health Plan.

• Improving treatment pathways – we published the breast cancer clinical management pathway in 2023, helping to guide decision making consistently across Scotland on optimal treatment options at the various points in a patient’s pathway, to support shared decision-making.
• Improving patient access and experience – we have piloted our Single Point of Contact approach in 12 areas. These pilots are improving access to care and timely reporting of results; easing navigation through care pathways; improving communication and experience, shared decision making and patient-reported outcomes; and are positively impacting our workforce by releasing capacity to provide more proactive and expert care. This has, for example, had a positive impact with respect to the timing of primary surgery for ovarian cancer in the West of Scotland.
• Improving screening coverage – three of the six national screening programmes are specifically for women and new initiatives will improve access for women for example, HPV self-sampling for under-screened women following the June 2025 UK NSC recommendations^[17].
• Reducing waiting times – Over £14m of the £135.5m planned care funding in 2025/26 will go towards cancer waiting times, focussed on the three most challenged pathways, which includes breast cancer.
• Supporting initiatives for earlier diagnosis – Continued investment into the Detect Cancer Earlier (DCE) Programme; significant work is underway including work to improve early diagnosis, such as to support early diagnosis of breast cancer through CfSD and Cancer Research UK project in NHS Forth Valley promoting self-referral.
• Improving data collection – The Scottish Government is working with Public Health Scotland to understand how best to drive service improvement through improved data for secondary (metastatic) cancers in Scotland, starting with breast cancer.

Maternal and Infant Health

The Scottish Government remains committed to continuous improvement in maternity services to ensure that all women and their babies receive the best possible care. There are a number of pieces of work in this area, focused on continuous improvement in experiences and outcomes for women, their babies and their families.

The Best Start

The Scottish Government has rolled out implementation of the new model of care as set out in The Best Start. Best Start set out a vision for maternity care, focused on person-centred, compassionate, safe care, based on evidence and input from staff and service users. The model included introduction of continuity of carer and a new model of neonatal care, and benefits for families such as help with costs of travel, food and accommodation for families with babies in neonatal care. It also saw the launch of our maternity and neonatal networks and dashboards. As part of Best Start, the Scottish Government published a new ‘Pathways for Maternity Care’ clinical guidance and schedule to reflect latest evidence, and the ethos of the Best Start, and a ‘Birthplace Decisions leaflet’ to provide up-to-date information women need to make informed decisions about where they would like to give birth.

Information about pregnancy and parenting

All women in Scotland are offered a copy of Ready Steady Baby, a comprehensive guide to pregnancy, labour, birth and early parenthood up to eight weeks. The information in RSB! is available online on the NHS Inform website. An easy-read version is published by Public Health Scotland: Ready Steady Baby easy read – Publications – Public Health Scotland.

The Scottish Government also supports parents to access trusted and evidence based parenting information through the Parentclub website.

Tackling Racialised Health Inequalities

The Scottish Government’s Tackling Racialised Health Inequalities in Maternity Care action plan, interpretation toolkit and an evidence and data resource was published in February 2025. It is aimed at improving inequalities in outcomes for pregnant women and babies from black and Asian backgrounds.

Miscarriage

Miscarriage can have a profound impact on women and families.

To improve miscarriage care, the Scottish Government published the Delivery Framework for Miscarriage Care in Scotland on 6 February 2025. The Framework, developed by an expert group, brings together professional guidance, including National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) and Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) guidance with the recommendations in the Lancet Series, Miscarriage Matters.

Stillbirth

Data published by National Records of Scotland shows that Scotland’s stillbirth rate has fallen by nearly 40% in the last 20 years. However, there is still more work to do to improve stillbirth rates and work underway in our Scottish Patient Safety Perinatal Improvement Programme is aimed at continuing to drive improvements in maternity and neonatal care for mothers and babies. In addition, Scotland participates in four UK-wide audits and confidential enquiries, including the National Neonatal Audit Programme (NNAP), the National Maternity and Perinatal Audit and MBRRACE-UK, to report on comparative rates of perinatal mortality, maternal mortality and to a range of maternity and neonatal data. The reports highlight where quality and safety of maternity and neonatal care can be improved, and on good practice.

We are also committed to supporting families that experience baby loss through the roll out of the National Bereavement Care Pathway, focused on delivery of high-quality, sensitive bereavement care following baby loss.

Inspections and Standards

Following an increase in neonatal mortality in 2021/22, Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) announced that it would extend its independent scrutiny role to cover maternity services across Scotland from January 2025. These inspections are unannounced and both the inspection reports and improvement plans developed by each NHS Board to respond to the inspection findings are published on the Healthcare Improvement Scotland website. The first of these, following the first maternity inspection of Ninewells Hospital, NHS Tayside, was published on 15 May 2025. In addition, the Scottish Government have commissioned Healthcare Improvement Scotland to develop a set of Maternity Standards that will set a clear understanding of the standards expected of maternity services across Scotland and are designed to drive improvements in care at a local level. We expect the standards to be published in Spring 2026.

Fertility Services

Scotland currently provides up to three full IVF/ICSI cycles on the NHS for eligible couples with some of the highest pregnancy rates and lowest multiple births across all UK nations.

Smoking in Pregnancy

The Scottish Government is committed to a Tobacco-Free Scotland by 2034 and will continue to take the necessary action to achieve this – to help people in Scotland live longer healthier lives.

Primary Health Care Professionals are encouraged to speak to patients about tobacco use, to help identify and support patients who smoke, and inform them of cessation services.

Smoking in pregnancy is the single biggest modifiable risk factor for poor birth outcomes. It increases the risks of miscarriage, pre-term birth, low birthweight, heart defects, still birth and sudden infant death. The earlier mothers stop smoking in pregnancy, the better. Midwives have a key role in supporting mothers to access the right support to quit and information on the benefits of stopping smoking in pregnancy is available on NHS inform.

2024 data gathered at maternity booking appointments shows that women in Scotland’s most deprived communities are more likely to smoke when pregnant than those in our least deprived communities (15.6% vs 1.6% – PHS Antenatal Booking appointment data – March 2025)

That is why reducing tobacco dependency in pregnancy is a key priority for the Scottish Government.

In support of this, Public Health Scotland have brought together a coalition of stakeholders to bring a renewed focus on treatment and support for women addicted to tobacco in Scotland.

PHS are leading a short-life working group as part of the Public Health Action Team on Smoking Cessation, who are responsible for implementing the Review of Smoking Cessation Services in Scotland.

Medicines in Pregnancy

The Scottish Government works closely with the UK regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, particularly in relation to medicines safety.

As part of this work, the Scottish Government has funded Public Health Scotland to establish a resource which monitors the use of anti-seizure medicines in pregnancy. The purpose of this is to track prescribing levels and trends, since the introduction of measures to mitigate the risks, particularly reproductive risks, associated with these medicines. The Medicines in Pregnancy resource also links medicines prescribing with maternal outcomes data, which further supports improvements in the safe use of teratogenic medicines (these are medicines that can cause developmental abnormalities in a foetus when a pregnant woman is exposed to it) in Scotland. Its first report was published by PHS in April 2024, with updated reports being published every 6 months, see: Anti-Seizure Medicines in Pregnancy 1 April 2025 – Anti-Seizure Medicines in Pregnancy – Publications – Public Health Scotland

Breastfeeding and Infant Feeding

Protecting all parents, especially pregnant women and new mothers, from harmful commercially influenced marketing by formula milk companies is essential to ensure informed choices about infant feeding. Over recent years, Scotland has seen a rise in early breastfeeding rates and longer durations of breastfeeding, alongside a reduction in inequalities. Rates among younger mothers and those in more deprived areas are increasing at a faster pace.

Breastfeeding provides a protective health factor for both mothers and babies, with benefits that extend well beyond the breastfeeding period. In addition to showcasing the work in Scotland to date, Scotland’s Breastfeeding and Infant Feeding Strategic Framework (2025–2030) sets out the key strategic actions to support the infant feeding journey during pregnancy and post-partum and how these will be delivered over the next five years.

The Scottish Government has invested more than £11 million over the past seven years to improve breastfeeding experiences, including embedding the UNICEF Baby Friendly Initiative across maternity, neonatal, and community services.

• For the first time since 2002, more than half of all babies in Scotland (51%) were breastfed rather than fully formula-fed at the 6–8 week review.
• Latest statistics show that 69% of newborns were breastfed for at least some time after birth, with rates among younger mothers and those from the most deprived areas continuing to rise.

Mesh and Pelvic Floor Audit

The experiences of women who suffered complications after having had mesh implanted highlighted historical gaps in how women’s health concerns have been understood, prioritised, and addressed.

Our response has been shaped by listening to the women who spoke out, persisted, and demanded change. We have established a specialist mesh service in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, put in place funded independent provider options to allow women a choice of who performs surgery, provided funds to women to help to help with emotional or practical support and reimbursed those who previously paid for private mesh removal. Further, we have commissioned the Scottish Pelvic Floor Registry and Audit Programme, led by Public Health Scotland (PHS), to collect and analyse data to improve pelvic floor services in Scotland.

This work has not only been about addressing the past but about setting a new standard for the future by placing women at the centre of policy design and embedding their voices in how their services are shaped and delivered.