Making a constructive contribution to women’s health in Scotland

• Written by: Caroline Brocklehurst —
• Published: 12th January 2026

The ALLIANCE’s Women’s Health Lived Experience Group reflect on their input to Phase 2 of the Scottish Government’s Women’s Health Plan.

It’s an enormously rewarding feeling, making a constructive contribution to progress in women’s health in Scotland!

I joined the Women’s Health Plan Lived Experience Group at the end of 2022 and have relished the multiple opportunities to take part in a variety of consultations, focus groups, educational webinars, resource co-design and more.

Over the last year, it’s been fascinating and fulfilling being part of a variety of activities related to Phase 2 of the Women’s Health Plan.  I’ve been part of in-person and on-line development planning discussions, often with Scottish Government representatives present and it’s great to see both continuing focus on areas such as reproductive health, period and menopausal health and heart health, but also the focus on health areas which disproportionately impact women, such as pelvic health, bone health, brain health and health in aging. 

In addition to the strategic planning sessions for the Plan, there have been multiple opportunities to get involved in some of the more in-depth action areas.  I’ve learned so much from educational sessions related to Optimising Women’s Health and menopause and wellbeing, as well as from workshops and resources at women’s health festivals and through Professor Anna Glasier’s lunchtime webinars. I’ve participated in consultation engagement and research workshops, including on draft Maternity Standards.  I also participated in the research pilot phase from the Scottish Government Civtech Challenge on menopause, and benefited from access to the Adora Menopause App following this.  I joined the Lived Experience Group of the Scottish Pelvic Floor Registry & Audit Programme and attended Glasgow Caledonian University’s Sporting Pelvic Health event, showcasing its research strength in female pelvic health.  Given half of women in Scotland will experience pelvic floor dysfunction in their lives, it’s an honour to learn about and be involved in work to improve this important area.

The Women’s Health Plan Lived Experience Group activities have also enabled me to champion my learning and passion for women’s health in consultations related to broader health policy planning: such as the Long-Term Conditions Framework, the “Integration in Action” series, consultation on the ALLIANCE Manifesto planning and my contributions as part of the Self-Management Network.  Being part of the Lived Experience Group has also encouraged me to keep a crucial lens of women’s health improvement in my wider patient representation roles, such as in developing peer support strategies, or reviewing proposals, research or clinical standards within the disease areas that I live with.

One of my proudest moments was getting to ask a women’s health related question of keynote speaker Sir Michael Marmot, at this year’s ALLIANCE conference.  My question related to the evidence and data about the importance of investment in women’s health, to which he responded that supporting women’s health across all the determinants of health, is the fundamental lynchpin to create population health….I couldn’t agree more!

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