Women's Health Plan: Phase Two (2026 - 2029)

8 Appendix

Development and Governance of the Women’s Health Plan: Phase Two

Short Life Working Group

We established a Short Life Working Group, to:

• Share their expertise to inform Phase Two of the Women’s Health Plan
• Identify gaps in the provision of services, consider existing areas of best practice and consider actions to address these gaps
• Engage with their organisations and networks to support the development of Phase Two of the Plan

Membership, terms of reference and minutes of meetings can be found online.

Theory of Change

We have worked to develop a Theory of Change to underpin this work, setting out our long-term vision for women’s health and the many activities and inputs needed to achieve this. This will be used to develop a Monitoring and Evaluation Framework. We will publish the Theory of Change and Monitoring and Evaluation Framework as we move into implementation of Phase Two.

Development Days

We held in-person development days bringing together colleagues across the NHS, Third Sector, academia and policy, asking what they thought should be our focus going forward.

Expert Clinical Refence Groups

We have engaged with existing groups including:

• Heart Health sub-group
• Menopause Clinical Network
• Menopause Clinical Reference Group
• Menstrual Health Clinical Reference Group
• Pelvic Floor Health Expert Group

Evidence Review

We have updated our evidence base looking specifically at what has changed for women and girls in Scotland since the publication of the Women’s Health Plan in 2021.

We published a ‘Review of the Data Landscape’ that sets out some of the routinely published data on women’s health currently available in Scotland which also highlights key gaps. This report has been used to inform Phase Two.

Much of this evidence is captured in the EQIA document published alongside Phase Two.

Engagement with Women and Girls

Engagement with women and girls is central to the Women’s Health Plan. We have worked to ensure women and girls have been meaningfully involved in policy development, that our work is rooted in the real experiences of women in Scotland and that addresses what is most important to them. We have undertaken a series of meetings, development days and focus groups, consulting with women and girls across Scotland and asking what they want to see prioritised going forward.

ALLIANCE Lived Experience Programme

Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland (The ALLIANCE) is an independent Scottish charity and strategic partner of the Scottish Government. As a national third sector strategic intermediary The ALLIANCE has strong expertise in engaging people with lived experience in policy and practice development across health and social care in Scotland.

The ALLIANCE continues to support the Women’s Health Plan through their dedicated lived experience programme, including a Women’s Health Lived Experience Stakeholder Group. This programme provides increased opportunities for people with lived experience to meaningfully contribute to effective policy development and service improvements within women’s health.

As part of the lived experience engagement for Phase Two of the Women’s Health Plan, The ALLIANCE hosted two development day discussions for their Women’s Health Lived Experience Group to ensure the views of those with lived experience were captured and informed Phase Two. These discussions were held in-person in March and August 2025.

Women in attendance emphasised the requirement for:

• additional support to make sustainable lifestyle changes to optimise their future health, noting the impacts of social determinants of health and barriers to living well
• more support for women in later life
• the importance of access to reliable information and education around menstrual cycle, fertility and women’s health more generally
• the need for more mental health services for women and more joined up working across specialities, for example gynaecology and mental health.

These development days gathered views from a wide range of stakeholders including people with lived experience but also representative organisations.

Focus Groups

In addition to our lived experience engagement undertaken in partnership with the ALLIANCE, we also commissioned third sector organisations to undertake smaller focus groups. The specific aim of these focus groups was to hear from women and girls who are often not heard from in the policy making process, including women experiencing homelessness, minority ethnic women, girls as young as 12, and women in their 90s. The Focus Groups were held in Spring 2025.

These organisations we worked with were:

• Age Scotland
• British Heart Foundation Scotland
• Council of Ethnic Minority Voluntary Organisations (CEMVO)
• Simon Community Scotland
• The Young Women’s Movement

A full summary report detailing findings from these focus groups is published alongside Phase Two.