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The loss of a baby, no matter at what stage of pregnancy, is a traumatic event that can have a profound impact on families. The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that families who have experienced a pregnancy or baby loss receive the right information, care and support tailored to their individual circumstances. This includes high quality, sensitive bereavement care and support.

For most parents who have suffered a pregnancy loss, bereavement and grief support provided by their Health Board or third sector organisations will meet their needs and they will not require specialist mental health services.

A small number of parents experience more complicated grief and may benefit from engagement with specialist mental health services. If a parent is identified as requiring Maternity and Neonatal Psychological Intervention (MNPI) services in Scotland after the loss of their baby, they would typically be referred by their midwife, GP or other healthcare professional.

The way in which MNPI services are provided will differ across Boards, depending on population size and birth rate but we expect those who need the services to be able to access them in all areas of Scotland. All NHS Boards now provide these services either from a dedicated local team or, for very small Board areas, via pathways to MNPI care in larger Boards that host the maternity hospitals where the patient is receiving inpatient care.

The Distress Brief Intervention (DBI) Programme is now live in all 31 HSCPs across Scotland. At end August 2025, over 97,000 people had been referred to the programme. We will shortly provide an update on our progress towards the significant milestone of 100,000 people referred.

Over the coming months, the Scottish Government will be working with our partners to review how well DBI has been embedded, and what else may be needed moving forward to strengthen it. Our focus will be on the sustainability of the programme, and maintaining the right level of support to frontline services.

The first step of this review will be considering the results of the evaluation of under 18s elements of the DBI programme, which we are due to publish in November 2025.

Mental health is an absolute priority for this Government and ensuring provision of care and support for individuals with mental illness will be considered as part of the ongoing budget process. The Cabinet Secretary for Finance has confirmed that the Scottish Government will publish the 2026-27 Scottish Budget on Tuesday 13 January 2026. The UK Government’s decision to publish its Autumn Budget on 26 November has significantly compressed the Scottish Budget timetable.

In 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25 the Scottish Government provided annual funding to Health Boards for smoking cessation and prevention services as part of a wider Outcomes Framework allocation, whereby budget was provided to Health Boards to cover a range of outcomes and individual Health Boards decide how much of this funding to allocate to each outcome.

The value of the Outcomes Framework allocation was £74.1 million (2022-23); £74.1 million (2023-24); and £72.2 million (2024-25).

NHS Inform helps women to access the information they need on a range of issues relating to their health. The Platform includes comprehensive information on polycystic ovary syndrome This includes an animation produced by the University of Edinburgh which provides an explanation of the condition in an easy to understand way including what polycystic ovaries are and their relevance in a diagnosis of PCOS.

To raise awareness of the condition and provide further information to women we worked with the Health and Social Care Alliance to deliver a series of webinars on menstrual health including a webinar on PCOS. This session explored the condition and how it is diagnosed, included information about polycystic ovaries as well as busting some common myths about the condition.

Each September we highlight the condition to the public by lighting our Scottish Government buildings to mark PCOS awareness month and utilise this opportunity to highlight the information available on NHS Inform.

Menstrual health, which includes polycystic ovary syndrome, was a priority in the first phase of the Women’s Health Plan.

To support women with symptomspolycystic ovary syndrome of we have;

• improved access to comprehensive information on menstrual symptoms and PCOS through our Women's Health Platform on NHS Inform.
• worked with the Health and Social Care Alliance deliver a series of webinars for women on menstrual health including a session on PCOS.
• published a workplace policy for NHSScotland on menstrual health and menopause, which can be adapted for use in other employment sectors.
• worked with NHS Education for Scotland (NES) to develop eLearning on menstrual health, including PCOS, for those working in primary care.

Menstrual health, including PCOS, will continue to be an important area of focus in the next phase of the Women’s Health Plan.

While the Scottish Government’s role is to set the strategic policy for the NHS in Scotland, it is NHS Boards that are responsible for delivering safe, effective, person-centred care at a local level.

To do this effectively, NHS Boards provide a tiered podiatry service, which includes offering support for self-management in order to promote foot health. No single medical condition is automatically deemed to require ongoing general NHS podiatry care and as such podiatry services assess and treat patients based on individual healthcare needs. Whilst routine nail cutting and personal footcare are considered part of daily hygiene, not a clinical service provided by NHS podiatry, advice is available to patients free of charge via their NHS Boards or as part of refreshed footcare guidance published by the Scottish Government in March this year.

The Scottish Government is not aware of any NHS Board that has stopped providing specialist podiatry care for people with diabetes. NHS Scotland’s Podiatry Service assesses and treats patients based on individual healthcare needs rather than specific medical conditions. As such, no medical condition is automatically deemed to require ongoing general NHS podiatry care.

The next phase of the Women’s Health Plan is expected to be published in January 2026.

The Scottish Government understands the importance of sport and physical activity for women and girls in Scotland and the positive impact that has on their physical, mental, and social health across all stages in life. We recognise the importance of having a proper fitting sports bra to support women and girls in sport and physical activity, and to reduce barriers to participation.

The Female Athlete Performance Working Group at the sportscotland Institute of Sport has developed a range of resources for female athletes and anyone supporting and working with girls and women in sport at any level. This includes a learning module on bras and breast health, amongst other female athlete health modules. These are available on Brightspace, free of charge. These modules have been promoted by a number of Scottish Governing Bodies of Sport, as well as through our national agency for sport, sportscotland.