A national strategy for women’s health
The SNP’s vision for a Scottish National Women’s Health Strategy should treat healthcare as a lifelong right, not a patchwork of services women must navigate alone. Policy should connect reproductive health, maternity, menopause, mental wellbeing and healthy ageing.
This is practical in places such as Ochil and South Perthshire, where residents may travel for antenatal care, diagnostic tests or specialist treatment. Independence and economic recovery belong in the same conversation: a secure public health system supports work, community life and investment in Scotland’s future.
Annabelle Ewing brings experience as a lawyer and former representative at Westminster and Holyrood. Her campaign can turn SNP commitments into a funded national plan with deadlines and measurable outcomes, while keeping Scotland’s interests represented at Westminster.
A lifelong approach to better health
A national strategy should cover the whole life course. Girls and women need accurate information about puberty and contraception, timely sexual and reproductive healthcare, fertility services, maternity and postnatal support, and specialist care for endometriosis, PCOS and menopause. These are connected needs.
It should include conditions that disproportionately affect women, such as osteoporosis, some cardiovascular disease and certain cancers. Preventive care, screening, mental health support and help after violence should sit within one coordinated framework shaped by women’s lived experience and designed to reduce gender inequality.
Evidence, equity and accountability
National policy succeeds when patients can see the difference. Building on Scotland’s existing strategy, the SNP should require consistent reporting on waiting times, diagnoses, treatment outcomes and unmet need, broken down by age, disability, ethnicity, income and geography. A public dashboard would allow Parliament, NHS boards and patients to scrutinise progress.
Most health policy is already devolved, so independence is not a substitute for delivery. It can give Scotland greater control over the tax and spending choices behind its services. Ewing’s Westminster commitment remains important for reserved areas such as employment and taxation, while economic recovery can fund the NHS and social care workforce.
Care that reaches every community
A strategy based only on specialist hospitals will miss people whose barriers begin with transport, work or digital access. Scotland should expand women’s health hubs, mobile clinics for rural communities, protected appointment time and remote consultations where appropriate. Referral pathways should connect GPs, pharmacies, maternity services and hospitals.
Australia shows the possibilities and limits. In Melbourne and Sydney, long commutes on trains and trams can make appointments hard to fit around paid work. Many residents combine visits to a GP, collection of repeat prescriptions from a pharmacy and online booking, yet private fees, clinic locations and waiting lists still influence access. Rural communities face these barriers across much larger distances.
What Australia can teach Scotland
The cross-country policy contrast is clear:
| Policy area | Scottish direction | Australian context |
|---|---|---|
| National leadership | A Scottish Government-led strategy with NHS boards held to published outcomes. | A national women’s health strategy works alongside separate state and territory strategies and services. |
| Primary and specialist care | Women’s health hubs, mobile teams and telehealth link community care to hospitals. | Medicare, GPs, public hospitals, private specialists and pharmacies create choice, while cost and location shape access. |
| Reproductive healthcare | Joined-up pathways for contraception, fertility, abortion, sexual health and maternity care. | Abortion is legal in every state and territory, but law, clinical access and public provision vary. Medicare rebates help fund abortion services. |
| Rural and remote services | Portable teams, transport assistance and protected appointment time reduce distance barriers. | Telehealth and Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations show the value of locally governed care, although workforce shortages and digital exclusion persist. |
| Research and prevention | National datasets track conditions affecting women and direct funding towards unmet need. | National research funding, awareness campaigns and the National Endometriosis Action Plan offer useful models. |
Australia demonstrates the value of national standards with local flexibility. Federal and state responsibilities differ, yet coordinated action has raised awareness of endometriosis and supported better reproductive healthcare. Australia’s Fair Work Act also provides paid parental leave and reasonable adjustments for breastfeeding workers. Scotland can draw on that experience, preserve the strengths of its NHS and pursue reserved workplace protections at Westminster.
Priorities for meaningful action
The SNP’s programme should commit to these practical measures:
- Refresh and publish a life-course women’s health plan with annual outcome reports and named responsibility for every commitment.
- Guarantee funded pathways for endometriosis, gynaecological pain, PCOS, fertility treatment and menopause, including multidisciplinary pain support.
- Protect reproductive choice through contraception, sexual health advice, abortion care and continuity between hospital and community services.
- Improve maternity and postnatal care through continuity, mental health screening, breastfeeding support and specialist pathways for high-risk patients.
- Build a national evidence base using sex- and gender-disaggregated data, and involve women directly in research and service design.
- Make work and care compatible through leave, flexible working, breastfeeding protections and action against workplace harassment.
Delivery should begin with workforce planning. More gynaecologists, midwives, specialist nurses and community practitioners are needed to turn better policies into shorter waits. Funding must also cover transport, outreach and digital inclusion, not only appointments.
A healthier Scotland needs your support
Support Annabelle Ewing’s campaign for Ochil and South Perthshire by reading the latest campaign news, joining a local event, volunteering or contacting the team. Voters in Scotland should check their registration and arrangements, encourage informed participation and support a strategy centred on dignity, choice and equal access.
Readers in Australia can help by sharing the comparison and discussing women’s healthcare with colleagues, communities and policymakers. The lesson from both countries is straightforward: national ambition works when it reaches primary care, respects local realities and is judged by outcomes people feel in everyday life.