Women's Health Plan: A plan for 2021-2024 (Scottish Government, 20 August 2021)

Summary

The Women’s Health Plan underpins actions to improve women’s health inequalities by raising awareness around women’s health, improving access to health care and reducing inequalities in health outcomes for girls and women, both for sex-specific conditions and in women’s general health. Its ambition is for a Scotland where health outcomes are equitable across the population, so that all women enjoy the best possible health throughout their lives.

Content

The Plan is underpinned by the following principles:

• Addressing inequalities - Responding to the unjust and avoidable differences in people’s health across the population and between specific population groups.
• Gender equality and intersectionality - Acknowledging and responding to the many characteristics and factors which shape women’s lives such as ethnicity, disability, sexual identity and background.
• A life course approach - Taking advantage of the different stages in a woman’s life which present both health challenges and opportunities to promote and protect health and wellbeing.
• Respectful and inclusive services - Everyone who uses and provides NHS services has a right to be treated as an individual and with consideration, dignity and respect.

This initial Plan has a specific focus on the following priority areas:

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