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

1 The Women’s Health Plan – Phase Two

The Women’s Health Plan was published in August 2021 and marked the beginning of a journey, where we started to create the conditions needed to improve health outcomes for all women and girls in Scotland.

Easy Read Versions

An Easy Read version of the Women’s Health Plan is available here.

The Easy Read version of Phase Two has been published alongside this document.

Our ambition remains the same. We want all women and girls in Scotland to enjoy the best possible health, throughout their lives. This document sets out actions which will be taken forward by the Scottish Government and its partners to move us closer to achieving this ambition.

Women and girls experience various health needs and risks during their lives which are not the same as those of men. This may relate to starting and managing periods, choosing contraception, accessing abortion services, planning for pregnancy, managing pelvic floor health, managing menopause symptoms and the manifestation of chronic conditions such as heart disease. We know women are more likely than men to experience osteoporosis and dementia, and therefore need specific support and information to manage their health and wellbeing in their later years.

This set of actions is informed by two key reports developed and published as part of the implementation of the Women’s Health Plan. A Review of the Data Landscape, published in 2024 sets out some of the routinely published data on women’s health currently available in Scotland and highlights key gaps. The second report, published in 2023, titled Women’s experiences of discrimination and the impact on health: research was a two-phase research project carried out to build an evidence base on women’s health inequalities in Scotland. The findings in this project have contributed to the evidence base on women’s health inequalities, discrimination and young women through in-depth exploration of women in Scotland’s intersectional experience. This report reiterates the importance of understanding that individuals can have multiple parts of their identity that lead to disadvantage and to worse consequences for health^[3].

By continuing to take an intersectional approach, Phase Two aims to address the inequalities that affect the health of all women and girls in Scotland. It is a revised set of actions that builds on the aims in the first phase of the Women’s Health Plan with additional areas of focus. In the delivery of these actions, it will be essential to address the particular needs of women who may need additional help or support, including those managing the impacts of poverty, minority ethnic women, disabled women and women and girls living in rural and island areas of Scotland.

The Women’s Health Plan does not exist in isolation. There is a significant volume of work being taken forward across the Scottish Government on women’s health and reducing inequalities, including mental health, maternal health, screening, addressing the gender pay gap and eliminating violence against women and girls.

Equally Safe is Scotland’s world leading plan to address violence against women and girls. It looks to all public services to prevent and eradicate all forms of violence them. Services that we come into contact with on a day-to-day basis can be forces of positive change and we know that women and girls are frequent users of health services. As such, NHS Scotland is well placed to provide trauma-informed, compassionate and impactful support, for both primary and secondary prevention of violence against women and girls.

Services across health and social care should be considering their role and supporting women and girls through early engagement and intervention.

Phase Two is published alongside a narrative document which demonstrates the breadth of work underway across health policy to achieve our collective ambition: that all women and girls enjoy the best possible health, throughout their lives.

1.1 Building on Progress

The first phase of the Women’s Health Plan focused on creating the conditions for change in order to improve health outcomes for all women and girls in Scotland – we are now building on this foundation. The Women’s Health Champion role, NHS Board Women’s Health Leads and Lived Experience Programme will all continue. These are not included as specific actions in this document as they are continuations of existing work.

There is a widespread commitment to build on the progress taking place across Scotland to improve health outcomes for women and girls and acknowledgement that women’s health is everyone’s business. When the health of women and girls is supported, everyone benefits.

Scotland now has a:

• Women’s Health Champion
• Women’s Health Lead in every NHS Board in Scotland
• A dedicated Women’s Health Information Platform on NHS Inform
• Bespoke training packages on menstrual health and menopause for general practice and others working in Primary Care
• NHS Scotland Menopause and Menstrual Health Workplace Policy
• A specialist menopause service in every mainland health board
• A Women’s Health Lived Experience Programme
• Women’s Health Research Fund

1.2 Do we still need a Women’s Health Plan?

Yes. Change, especially righting health inequities that have existed for millennia, takes time, collective effort and renewed focus.

“For centuries, women and people assigned female at birth had their symptoms repeatedly dismissed by predominantly male physicians and attributed to ‘hysteria.’ This stance, along with the historical lack of female academics and senior clinicians, has meant that conditions that affect women have been under-prioritised in policy and research. Much is still unknown about common conditions such as endometriosis and fibroids, and a research gender gap persists in the UK^[4].” British Medical Journal (BMJ), 2025

The health and social care landscape, and our wider society, has changed since 2020-21 when the first phase of the Plan was written and published. Health inequalities remain and, in some instances, have widened.

Gynaecology waiting times in particular have significantly increased since 2021^[5]. Across the UK, women’s healthy life expectancy has declined^[6]. Pressure on our public services poses a significant challenge as does the cost of living crisis. Women are more likely to be on multiple waiting lists and women are more likely than men to report a limiting long-term health condition^[7].

We know that women are still under-represented in health research and that failure to gather data on disease and disease outcomes related specifically to women has, over many years, limited knowledge and impacted health outcomes.

On top of this many women bear the brunt of unpaid labour such as childcare, cooking or housework; many women live in poverty, many women are in low-paid employment, and are more likely to suffer from domestic abuse – all of which impact on their health.

This growing body of evidence makes it clear why our Women’s Health Plan continues to be so important and why we must continue this work. This second phase of the Women’s Health Plan builds on the progress made to date and, importantly, shines a spotlight on additional areas of women’s health where change and improvement are needed.

Listening to Women and Girls

Women often report being dismissed, disbelieved, and unheard by healthcare staff. This is more likely to happen to people who are minoritised owing to their gender, ethnicity, ability, class, sexual orientation, age, or religion, who can experience prejudice and discrimination^[8].

“… girls and young women feeling dismissed and unable to advocate for themselves… put them off seeking healthcare for unrealised issues at a later date.” Young Women’s Movement Phase Two Focus Group Findings, 2025

We know that people want to be more involved in decisions about their care and there is growing evidence that they are more satisfied with consultations where they have been able to express what matters to them. But women and girls of all ages have told us that they do not feel listened to by healthcare practitioners, or do not feel that their particular needs and experiences are taken seriously.

Through the first phase of the Women’s Health Plan research was undertaken, to explore Women’s experiences of discrimination and the impact on health. The research found that young women in Scotland regularly felt dismissed, disbelieved and their pain minimised in healthcare settings. Supported by this evidence base the Shaping Healthcare Inclusivity for Fair Treatment for young women (SHIFT) project involved co-producing with young women and key partners (e.g., healthcare professionals, experts in women’s health and inequalities, third sector organisations, and policy makers), a training animation to support healthcare professionals in improving healthcare experiences for young women. The animation articulates the lived impact of dismissal and shared benefits of empathy, listening, and collaborative care and can be viewed here: https://vimeo.com/1122917114?share=copy

“When we do have to go and see a GP, we don’t want to be told ‘Oh it’s wear and tear there’s nothing you can do about it’, because that’s not constructive.” Age Scotland Phase Two Focus Group Findings, 2025

We want women and girls of all ages to feel valued and listened to when they seek healthcare. Older women have spoken of feeling “patronised and overlooked” by healthcare professionals, with health concerns dismissed as just a part of getting older. Older minority ethnic women reported that healthcare staff lacked knowledge about the specific health issues they face, such as experiencing the menopause earlier.

Realistic Medicine is an approach to healthcare that aims to put people at the centre of decisions about their care, with healthcare professionals working with them to understand what really matters to them and their families. Practising in this way should empower women and girls to be able to make choices about their healthcare based on reliable information on options available to them, in the context of what would work best for their personal situation.

Through the delivery of Phase Two of the Women’s Health Plan, we will work to ensure that healthcare professionals across Scotland address the particular, specific and intersectional needs of women and girls, through a Realistic Medicine approach so that they receive the care that matters to them, in the right place at the right time.

1.3 Mental Health and Wellbeing

“Girls and young women… want to understand more about how their physical and mental health change during puberty.” Young Women’s Movement Phase Two Focus Group Findings, 2025

We want women and girls to enjoy the best possible mental health and wellbeing, throughout their lives.

Mental health and wellbeing has been consistently raised as an area of importance for women and girls, and this has been evident throughout all aspects of engagement undertaken to develop this Plan. Findings from the Focus Groups carried out for Phase Two of the Women’s Health Plan illustrated concerns around mental health and wellbeing from women and girls throughout the life course. Girls noted they are left out of discussions around mental health, including managing anxiety. Stress during puberty was a specific topic of concern for many young women. Older women also raised mental health as a priority, 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 particular difficulty accessing mental health treatment.

Our Review of the Data Landscape sets out some of the routinely published data on women’s health currently available in Scotland and highlights that women are consistently experiencing a greater burden of mental health issues than men. Anxiety amongst young women is more than double that of their male counterparts.

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. An interim Progress Report was published in June 2025. This Strategy highlights the importance of taking an intersectional approach so we can most effectively understand and tackle structural inequality and health inequalities, including gendered inequality. It recognises we need support, services, care and treatment that are person-centred, anti-racist, culturally and gender sensitive, age-appropriate, fully inclusive and in a range of formats.

A refreshed Mental Health & Wellbeing Strategy Delivery Plan will be published in 2026. This refresh is being overseen by the Mental Health Strategy Leadership Board. The Board features a wide range of perspectives and networks, including representation of women’s voices through our Equality and Human Rights Forum and Diverse Experience Advisory Panel. As part of this refresh, we will carefully consider how to include targeted strategic actions that make a tangible contribution across a number of policy areas from a mental health perspective. This will include collaboration with the aims and ambitions of the Women’s Health Plan, so that women and girls enjoy the best possible mental health and wellbeing, throughout their lives.

1.4 Strategic Context

The health of women and girls is everyone’s business. Phase Two does not exist in isolation. The Women’s Health Plan supports work already being undertaken on women’s health across Scotland and aims to reduce health inequalities and drive forward improvement in health services for all women in Scotland.

The Scottish Government will continue to work in collaboration with partners including Health Boards, Public Health Scotland (PHS), Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS), NHS Education for Scotland (NES), the Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD,) the Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland (the ALLIANCE), the wider Third Sector and, of course, women and girls, to implement Phase Two of the Women’s Health Plan.

Phase Two adopts a dual track approach. This approach combines wide mainstreaming aims to achieve long-term cultural change alongside specific and targeted action. This document sets out overarching aims and ambitions alongside specific actions to drive forward improvements and reduce inequalities for the health of women and girls.

The Scottish Government promotes a mainstreaming approach to equality to ensure that the impact of policies, programmes and legislation on groups of people who share a protected characteristic are assessed by all areas and at all levels. Under the Equality Act 2010 (Scotland) all public authorities must carry out an Equalities Impact Assessment (EQIA) – this means the specific needs of women and girls should be considered in the development, implementation and evaluation of all health and social care policy. EQIA’s have been undertaken to inform the Women’s Health Plan and Phase Two, these are available on the Scottish Government website.

But the needs, experiences, and views of women and girls should be central to all policy, with public bodies integrating women’s experience. In practice, this means that the needs of women and girls should be integral to how decisions are made; policies are designed and developed; services are delivered, and how money is allocated and spent.

We also know that the NHS requires significant renewal and reform to ensure that we have a susinable health service, given the scale of growing demand it faces. The Scottish Government has recently published three documents detailing a new vision for health and social care services in Scotland to address these challenges and give focus to the reform work. This vision is to “enable people to live longer, healthier and more fulfilling lives”. The actions included within this Plan align with this wider renewal work. We know that improving access to treatment and services; shifting the balance of care into the community; expanding digital and technological innovation; and focussing on prevention will benefit women and help achieve our longstanding ambition, for women and girls to enjoy the best possible health throughout their lives.

As part of this reform, Scotland’s Population Health Framework (PHF) provides a population-wide approach to improving health outcomes by focusing on prevention, early intervention, and the wider determinants of health and wellbeing. The PHF aims to reduce broad and persistent health inequalities experienced across all of society, recognising that social and economic disadvantage, place and other structural factors have a profound impact on long-term health. By strengthening the evidence base and promoting whole-system, cross-government and cross-sector collaboration, the PHF supports the creation of conditions in which the whole population can thrive. Within this broader context, the Framework sits alongside the Women’s Health Plan, aligning wider efforts to reduce wider health inequalities.

More detail on the development of Phase Two of the Women’s Health Plan can be found in the Appendix.