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The contains a commitment to addressing key inequalities in out of hospital cardiac arrest outcomes and references inequality in the provision of CPR in women.

Through the delivery of this strategy, Save a Life for Scotland partners have been working to address misconceptions about CPR and embed the knowledge that it is a gender neutral, life-saving technique.

We made clear commitments to tackling the inequalities faced by women with heart disease in our Women’s Health Plan, published in August 2021. Actions taken and progress are outlined in the .

Our ambition is that women and girls enjoy the best possible health, throughout their lives. This remains the ambition of the Scottish Government, and will continue to be our guiding principle as we develop the next phase of the Women’s Health Plan.

Any future priorities will be determined in partnership with our stakeholders.

Within the Scottish Government policy responsibility for Health and Care Research sits with the Chief Scientist Office (CSO)

CSO is engaged with the MESSAGE (Medical Science Sex and Gender Equity) project, a UK-wide initiative which aims to improve the integration of sex and gender considerations across data collection, analysis and reporting in Biomedical, Health and Care research in the UK. MESSAGE brings together stakeholders from across the UK to co-design a sex and gender policy framework for funding and regulatory organisation and supporting policy implementation across the UK research sector.

The co-designed framework was launched at the end of 2024 and introduced new recommendations for scientific practice which aim to enhance the quality of UK science at each stage of the research pipeline. CSO contributed to the development of the framework and is working to align its practices with the MESSAGE recommendations.

Through the Women’s Health Plan 2021- 2024 work has been ongoing to map the data on women’s health in Scotland. We have published a ‘’ that sets out some of the routinely published data on women’s health currently available in Scotland and highlights key gaps. The Care and Wellbeing Dashboard, which provides access to the latest data on population health outcomes and the wider determinants of health in Scotland, will also include breakdowns by sex where this data is available.

Our ambition is that ‘women and girls enjoy the best possible health, throughout their lives’. This remains the ambition of the Scottish Government, and will continue to be our guiding principle as we consider the next phase of the Women’s Health Plan.

The Women’s Health Plan set out actions which aim to address women’s health inequalities by raising awareness around women’s health, improving access to health care for women across their lives, and reducing inequalities in health outcomes for women and girls.

Through the Plan we have appointed Scotland’s first Women’s Health Champion; created a Women’s Health Platform on NHS Inform, commissioned NHS Education for Scotland to create bespoke training packages on menstrual health for general practice and there is now a menopause and menstrual health workplace policy for NHS Scotland.

In addition we funded the Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland to deliver our Women’s Health Plan lived experience programme. This has included webinars, videos, a toolkit and our Lived Experience Stakeholder Group to raise awareness of women’s health topics and ensure women and people with lived experience are meaningfully involved in decision making and priority setting.

Our on progress provides further details of our work to date.

Our ambition is that ‘women and girls enjoy the best possible health, throughout their lives’. This remains the ambition of the Scottish Government, and will continue to be our guiding principle as we consider the next phase of the Women’s Health Plan.

Information listing the location and opening hours of all Changing Places facilities, including those within railway stations is available from the . For Edinburgh Waverley and Glasgow Central stations, this is available on Network Rail’s website.

Prosecutors come into contact on a daily basis with individuals living with alcohol use disorder and its consequences. It is appropriate that COPFS staff are trained in relation to the causes and consequences of addiction, including alcohol use disorder, to allow for informed decision-making in the public interest.

Although the role of COPFS is limited in respect of accused persons, when addiction, including to alcohol, has contributed to offending, Prosecutors can consider diversion from prosecution and this may be offered where that would be in the public interest.

COPFS recently hosted a series of online webinars to inform staff of alcohol use disorder, Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and links between addiction and trauma. There are plans for future events and COPFS is exploring opportunities for further engagement with, and input from, Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems (SHAAP).

In addition COPFS internal resources available to all staff include general information about alcohol consumption, alcohol dependency and mental health and signposting for general awareness.

As set out in answer S6W-32799 on 14 January 2025 when the Softer Landing, Safer Care programme was introduced health boards agreed with NES to implement the programme for International Medical graduates (IMGs) starting their first hospital placement in NHS Scotland. The programme is part of a coordinated offer that sits alongside the training pathway and is devolved for local implementation and oversight at local board level. IMGs, like other trainees, feedback their experience through established quality assurance processes such as the Scottish Training Survey. As such, the Scottish Government does not oversee the initiative.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at /chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

As set out in answer S6W-32799 on 14 January 2025 when the Softer Landing, Safer Care programme was introduced health boards agreed with NES to implement the programme for International Medical graduates (IMGs) starting their first hospital placement in NHS Scotland. The programme is part of a coordinated offer that sits alongside the training pathway and is devolved for local implementation at local board level. IMGs, like other trainees, feedback their experience through established quality assurance processes such as the Scottish Training Survey. As such, the Scottish Government does not formally assess the initiative and it has not yet been formally evaluated.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at /chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

NHS Education for Scotland (NES) has developed the Softer Landing, Safer Care programme. When it was introduced health boards agreed with NES to implement the programme for International Medical graduates (IMGs) starting their first hospital placement in NHS Scotland. The programme is part of a coordinated offer that sits alongside the training pathway and is devolved for local implementation at local board level. IMGs, like other trainees, feedback their experience through established quality assurance processes such as the Scottish Training Survey. As such, the Scottish Government does not formally monitor the initiative and it has not yet been formally evaluated.

The Scottish Government has so far invested over £190 million in pay uplifts for acute hospital doctors employed by NHS Scotland in 2024-25. This investment will ensure NHS Scotland remains the place of choice to work and train and is in recognition of the incredible contribution that they make within our health service.

We wrote to health boards in June 2024 on the findings and recommendations of the Improving Medical Retention Advisory Group to support the retention of consultants at the latter stage and peri-retirement career phase in particular -

There is strong evidence which demonstrates that positive wellbeing enhances staff retention, which in turn raises standards of patient safety and quality of care. In support, from 2024-25, Scottish Government are investing over £2.5 million annually to support health and social care staff wellbeing. This funding provides our workforce with access to psychological interventions and therapies, self-service resources through the National Wellbeing Hub and the National Wellbeing Helpline delivered by NHS 24. Registered staff including doctors also have access to confidential mental health services through the Workforce Specialist Service (WSS). Furthermore, the National Supporting work life balance policies provide staff with a range of flexible working options to help balance lifestyle whilst maintaining and promoting the best possible service.