Scotland’s women’s health plan highlights innovation as ‘pivotal’

Scotland’s women’s health plan has pledged that “innovation will have a pivotal role in ensuring women and girls have access to the best quality care”.

The Women’s Health Plan: Phase Two (2026 – 2029), published by the Scottish government on 20 January 2026, sets out actions to address health inequalities across the country.

A foreword by Jenni Minto, MSP minister for public health and women’s health, says: “System-wide renewal is essential, and this plan aligns with wider work to improve access to treatment and services, shift care into communities, expand digital innovation and focus on prevention.

“These systematic changes will benefit women and help achieve our ambition: for women and girls to enjoy the best possible health throughout their lives.”

Among the Scottish government’s priorities is a requirement “to support the testing, adopting and scaling of innovations to support women and girls”.

“We will explore the innovation opportunities, working with our three NHS Scotland Innovation Hubs and partners across Scotland.

“We will seek to work collaboratively with partners across the UK, academia, industry and the third sector to identify opportunities to transform the care women and girls receive,” the plan adds.

It identifies three areas of focus: menopause care and support; gynaecological care and support; and data to enable effective design and development of innovation.

Commenting on the plan, Gillian Henderson, head of innovation commercialisation at InnoScot Health, said: “The Scottish government is absolutely correct to highlight this need in addressing inequalities.

“Hand in hand with heightened awareness and more open discourse, FemTech developed and supported thanks to the right collaboration is vital to providing tailored solutions, challenging stigmas, and giving women back more control.

“Indeed, multidisciplinary innovation produced through the ‘triple helix’ of NHS, industry, and academia can help to not only bridge Scotland’s gender health gap but also develop technology-driven products and services which specifically address women’s health and wellbeing needs.”

She added: “Through the second phase of the Women’s Health Plan, we now have an opportunity to go further by tackling gender-specific health needs, from early cancer detection to sustainable menstrual products such as the Glasgow-based Bettii Pod which received £400,000 in investment and funding in 2024.

“There is also Lumino’s Seren – a digital therapeutic developed in partnership with the West of Scotland Innovation Hub and CivTech – which uses cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) to help manage menopause symptoms.”

The Scottish government also wants to implement an action plan to eliminate cancer by 2040 through vaccine uptake, screening, and catch-up vaccinations.

It says that the government is “committed to pursuing innovation and investment while driving collaborative efforts across healthcare and beyond to achieve elimination at a population level by 2040”.

Meanwhile, the Department of Health and Social Care announced in October that England’s Women’s Health Strategy will be renewed in 2026 to focus on tackling inequalities and improving access to healthcare for women.

In December, Baroness Gillian Merron, women’s health minister said: “It is unacceptable that so many women are waiting too long for the care they need, and we are changing this through renewing the Women’s Health Strategy.”