Freedom of Information – Women’s Healthcare Services & Financial Transparency Request: September 2026

Request details

Information:

Reference Number: 3151

Response Date: 10 September 2026

Document Type: Governance

Request

Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002

In your email of 25 August 2026, you asked:

I would be grateful for information on the following areas:

1. Services Provided

A comprehensive list of all women’s healthcare services currently delivered within NHS Scotland, including:

  • Gynaecology
  • Menopause services
  • Fertility and reproductive health
  • Pelvic pain, endometriosis, adenomyosis and PMDD pathways
  • Maternity care
  • Women’s mental health services
  • Specialist clinics (e.g., recurrent miscarriage, complex hormonal conditions)

For each service, please outline scope, eligibility criteria, and geographical availability.

2. Costs, Funding & Residuals

For each service listed above, please provide:

  • Annual cost of delivering the service
  • Per‑patient cost where available
  • National and regional funding allocations
  • Any additional investment made under the Women’s Health Plan
  • A breakdown of money spent versus money allocated
  • Details of any residual or unspent funds, including:
    • The amount of residual funding
    • Where these residual funds were redirected
    • The rationale for redirecting or retaining residual funds
    • Any governance decisions or financial controls applied

3. Service Usage

Data showing how women are currently using these services, including:

  • Annual patient numbers
  • Referral volumes
  • Waiting list sizes
  • Average waiting times
  • Demographic breakdowns where available

4. Goals and Targets

Information on national and regional goals relating to women’s healthcare, including:

  • Strategic priorities
  • Targets for waiting times, outcomes, and service expansion
  • Commitments under the Women’s Health Plan and subsequent updates

5. Performance and Outcomes

Performance data for each service area, including:

  • Key performance indicators
  • Outcome measures
  • Patient satisfaction data
  • Published audits, evaluations, or improvement plans

6. Hospital Admissions

  • Within the Health-board where patient is on waiting list to be seen
  • Outcome measures
  • Patient satisfaction data
  • Published audits, evaluations, or improvement plans

I would appreciate receiving this information in electronic PDF format. If any of the requested data is unavailable, please advise what can be provided and any planned future reporting.

The date range is for the last 5 years

Response

Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) has considered your request. We do not hold the information requested for the reasons set out below.

HIS is the national improvement body for health and social care in Scotland. Our role includes supporting improvement, providing scrutiny and assurance of certain healthcare services, developing evidence-based standards and guidance, and promoting safe, effective and person-centred care.

HIS is not responsible for commissioning, delivering, funding or monitoring the women’s healthcare services provided by NHS Boards. We therefore do not hold information on the cost, funding, usage levels, waiting lists, admissions, eligibility criteria or geographical availability of those services. This applies to questions 1 to 4 and 6 of your request.

In relation to question 5, HIS undertakes an inspection programme for the safe delivery of care in maternity units. The outputs from this programme, including inspection reports and associated action plans, are published on our website:

Safe delivery of care in maternity units inspection programme – Healthcare Improvement Scotland

Maternity care standards – Healthcare Improvement Scotland

In relation to question 4, HIS has not received any commissions relating to the Women’s Health Plan and is not responsible for delivery of the plan. The Scottish Government may hold information relevant to this part of your request, and we note you have also sent your request to them.

Public Health Scotland publishes a range of data about the healthcare system in Scotland and may also hold information relevant to elements of your request. Further information is available on its website, and you may wish to contact the Public Health Scotland FOI team:

Healthcare system – Public Health Scotland

FOI and EIR requests – Contact us – Public Health Scotland

Applied exemptions

The following exemptions have been applied to this response. If you wish to learn more about the relevant exemptions please visit the Scottish Information Commissioners website using the links below.  You will leave the HIS website: FOISA exemptions

Section 17 – Information not held Information not held – Exemption 17

Reviews and Appeals

For more information on our reviews and appeals, please visit: Freedom of information reviews and appeals – Healthcare Improvement Scotland