New maternity standards to improve consistency and quality of care
Clear information about the standards women and their families can expect during their maternity care has been published by Healthcare Improvement Scotland.
The standards set out that patients should receive safe and compassionate care throughout pregnancy, birth and the postnatal period, regardless of where they live or their individual circumstances, and that care should be responsive to each woman’s individual needs.
The standards cover all aspects of maternity care, from antenatal appointments through to postnatal support, emergency care, mental health and wellbeing, and bereavement care. They apply across all settings, including hospitals, community services, midwifery units, and home births, and support NHS boards to actively work to reduce health inequalities and improve outcomes for women and their babies.
Once implemented, Healthcare Improvement Scotland will use the standards to drive this improvement, informing inspection and assurance activities across NHS boards.
Public Health and Women’s Health Minister Jenni Minto said: “The safety of women and babies is paramount.
“We commissioned Healthcare Improvement Scotland to develop the Maternity Care Standards, and I am grateful for their work to improve the quality and consistency of maternity care for women, babies, and families across Scotland.
“Every woman deserves to feel safe, supported and listened to during pregnancy and beyond. These standards recognise that some women face additional barriers to getting the care they need and set out a clear commitment to making sure maternity services work equally well for everyone — whatever their background or circumstances.”
Melissa Dowdeswell, Director of Nursing and Integrated Care, Healthcare Improvement Scotland, said: “We are pleased to have published maternity care standards that set clear expectations for how maternity care should be delivered in Scotland.
“The standards aim to promote consistency and improve the quality of maternity services across the country. They set out a blueprint for what good maternity care looks like and detail the levels of high-quality care and support that all women should expect to receive before, during and after birth.
“During the development of the standards, we spoke to women from many different backgrounds, who shared their experiences of being pregnant and giving birth in Scotland. Their voices were central to the creation of the standards.
“We heard that women need to feel confident that a high-level of safe, effective and person-centred care will be consistently delivered in all maternity units across Scotland regardless of individual circumstances or needs.
“The development of these standards is a commitment to making sure this happens.”
‘Our plan is delivering’ – Health Secretary welcomes new figures
New figures show the number of operations carried out in the 12 months to January 2026 increased by 6.1% compared to the same period the year before.
New statistics from Public Health Scotland show a total of 276,118 operations were performed during the last 12 months, while 756 operations were carried out per day; an increase from 713 for year ending January 2025.
This comes on the back of new waiting times statistics which show waits of over a year have decreased for 8 consecutive months – with new outpatient waits of more than 52 weeks more than halving since July 2025 and waits of over a year reducing by almost 30% for inpatient/day-case procedures in the same period.
Labour is desperate to talk down Scotland’s NHS, but here are the facts.
Latest stats out today show we are delivering more operations, meeting our CAMHS target, and long waits are falling. Thanks to our incredible NHS staff and the Scottish Government’s investment👇 pic.twitter.com/KWQTCZL74l
Health Secretary Neil Gray said: “These new figures show that our plan is delivering for Scotland – I am pleased to see sustained and continued improvement in the number of operations carried out, despite on-going pressures and the adverse weather seen over Winter which has impacted activity.
“I thank all NHS staff for their continued hard work – they are driving this progress and these figures are further evidence that our NHS is turning a corner.
“We are seeing waits of over a year come down month after month and we are delivering thousands more operations, procedures and appointments compared to last year – we are determined to build on this momentum.”
Sustained improvement in mental health care for children and young people
Scotland has met its Programme for Government commitment on specialist children’s mental health waiting times, with new statistics confirming that 90% of children and young people referred to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) started treatment within 18 weeks of referral by the December 2025 target date.
The Scottish Government has invested significantly in CAMHS over the past decade, with staffing increasing by 53%. The commitment to fund 320 additional CAMHS posts by 2026 has been exceeded, increasing capacity for cases by over 10,000.
CAMHS provides specialist NHS support for children and young people with serious mental health needs. To provide alternatives to this specialist service, over £80 million has been invested in community mental health services, plus £16 million a year for school counselling. From this year, £15 million annually will go to local authorities to maintain community-based support for children and young people who need it.
CAMHS waiting times of over 18 weeks are now at their lowest level since June 2013 and CAMHS targets have been met consistently for over a year.
Mental Wellbeing Minister Tom Arthur said: “Meeting our Programme for Government commitment on the CAMHS waiting times standard by the December 2025 target is a real and meaningful achievement.
“It has been made possible by the hard work and dedication of NHS staff across Scotland who support children, young people and their families through some of the most difficult times of their lives.
“The progress is sustained and it is clear — waiting lists are at historic lows with over 52 week waits dropping by over 30% in the last year and half of all young people referred are being seen within five weeks.
“I am encouraged by the real progress that has been made in recent months to clear backlogs and we will continue to work closely with those NHS Boards where some challenges remain over the next few months as they complete this work.
“Despite progress, there is more to do, and we remain committed to supporting all NHS Boards to sustain and build on this momentum.”
Vaccines continue to be the most effective way to protect people from serious, life-threatening diseases.
Thanks to vaccines, diseases like smallpox, polio, & tetanus, that were once responsible for millions of deaths and disabilities, have been eliminated or drastically reduced.
Ahead of the 20th anniversary of Scotland’s smoke-free legislation coming into force on 26 March 2026, people in Edinburgh who quit smoking at the time are being encouraged by a campaigning health charity to share their stories.
ASH Scotland is urging people who stopped using tobacco to share their experiences about why the ban on smoking in enclosed public spaces helped to motivate their quit smoking attempts and how becoming tobacco-free has benefited their life.
Local residents who have quit smoking more recently are also invited to tell the charity ahead of No Smoking Day on 11 March what influenced them to stop and if they succeeded through personal determination or with the free expert support available from NHS Scotland’s Quit Your Way services.
Sheila Duffy, Chief Executive of ASH Scotland, said: “With two big celebrations coming up in March in the shape of No Smoking Day and then the 20th anniversary of Scotland’s leading smoke-free law, we would love to hear from people in Edinburgh about how living tobacco-free has boosted their health and personal finances.
“We are looking forward to hearing everyone’s success stories which could inspire others to try giving up smoking for the first time or to try again when they discover the methods and support that worked 20 years ago or in more recent years.”
NHS Scotland spent £440m last year on beds for patients who were unable to get out of hospital despite being ready to be discharged, according to a new report by Scotland’s public spending watchdogs.
The report from the Audit Scotland and the Accounts Commission said one in nine hospital beds were occupied because of delayed discharges in the 12 months to April 2025.
It said the Scottish government must set out a plan to tackle the problem.
Delays in discharging patients from hospital affect people’s physical and mental health, and make it harder to admit others to hospital. Delayed discharges are a symptom of wider pressures across health and social care in Scotland.
The joint report by the Auditor General for Scotland and the Accounts Commission warns this has a significant effect, despite impacting only around three per cent of hospital patients. People medically ready to leave spent 720,000 unnecessary days in hospital in 2024/25. Whilst the full financial impact is unknown, the cost to the NHS in hospital days alone is an estimated £440 million a year.
The causes are complex, including rising demand for health and social care services, financial pressures, long-standing recruitment and retention problems across Scotland and for some, not having a Power of Attorney in place.
Reducing delayed discharges is a priority for the Scottish Government and their partners in health and social care, with significant activity underway to tackle this. But a lack of evaluation of initiatives across the country means it is difficult to measure what is having the greatest impact and whether these initiatives represent value for the money and time spent.
Stephen Boyle, Auditor General for Scotland, said: “Delayed discharges from hospital have far-reaching impacts on people’s health and well-being. The Scottish Government, health bodies, councils and other partner organisations agree on the need for major changes and are actively trying to reduce delayed discharges.
“Now they must improve how they collect, analyse and use data to evaluate the initiatives underway to tackle the problem. Without this, it’s impossible to understand the impacts and costs of delayed discharges and whether the initiatives across Scotland are improving lives, services and delivering value for money.”
Malcolm Bell, Member of the Accounts Commission said: “Significant change is critical across our health and social care services, shifting towards preventative care, greater use of technology and ongoing investment in the workforce. Without this, the care and support individuals need to leave hospital won’t always be available.
“The Scottish Government and COSLA’s joint health and social care service renewal framework is an opportunity for progress to be made with health and social care reform. But IJBs and social care need to be at the centre of planning and decision-making on service renewal, and it’s not clear how the framework will address the challenges faced by social care.”
‘The current approach has failed’
In response to the joint report into delayed discharges by the Auditor General for Scotland and Accounts Commission, Dr Fiona Hunter, RCEM Vice President for Scotland, said: “This report lays bare the scale of delayed discharge, and the impact it has on our health and social care system and the people it serves.
“720,000 days’ worth of unnecessary hospital stays in the 2024/25 financial year. That’s almost 2,000 years – an almost inconceivable amount of wasted resources which, if exit block had been addressed, could be used to help the patients lining the corridors of Emergency Departments day in, day out.
“The knock-on effect delayed discharge has on EDs cannot be overstated.
“Every hospital bed occupied by someone who does not need it, but cannot leave through no fault of their own, adds pressure to EDs which are receiving more patients than they can move on.
“And these unnecessary stays in a hospital bed puts patients at greater risk of hospital-born infection, and can lead to deconditioning, stripping them of their independence.
“This is something RCEM has been raising the alarm about for years now, and while the government has acknowledged the issue and taken some steps to address it – the total breakdown in hospital flow outlined in this report shows that the current approach has failed.
“Things cannot go on like this and I hope the government, health service and local authorities heed the recommendations set out by the Auditor General for Scotland.
“Improvements to data gathering and discharge planning, among the other recommendations, would be a step towards the system-wide approach we have long said is needed to fix Emergency Care.”
RCEM said earlier this week that The Scottish government must prioritise tackling delayed discharges and overcrowding in Emergency Departments (EDs) or risk the entire system collapsing under the strain of an incredibly difficult winter.
Th message from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM), followed the release of ED performance figures on Tuesday (6 January) by Public Health Scotland (PHS) for November 2025.
One in 15 patients (8,065) waited 12 or more hours in a type-1 ED before being admitted, transferred or discharged in that month alone, the worst figures for a November since records began in 2007.
Further, the new data found that:
It was the worst November on record for eight-hour waits, which stood at 17,259, or 14.5% of patients attending a major ED
Only 63% of patients seen within four hours at type-1 EDs, a far cry from the government target of 95%
Compared to November 2018, waits of four or more hours were four times higher, eight-hour waits were 14 times higher, and 12-hour waits were 39 times higher
Meanwhile, the number of people attending ED was only 5.5% higher in November 2025 compared to November 2018
Dr Fiona Hunter, RCEM Vice President for Scotland, said: “This is yet another month of predictable broken records for Emergency Medicine performance in Scotland.
“The Scottish government continues to shout about improvements to NHS waiting lists. We, of course, welcome these but a lack of political will to put the same emphasis on addressing delayed discharges means our departments are at risk of total derailment.
“We are now in the depths of winter. Patients are arriving into EDs only to find that there isn’t the space to treat them safely, let alone quickly.
“Very sick and injured people are lining corridors, crammed into whatever space we can find, because of exit block and a complete breakdown in flow out of hospitals.
“With warnings of storms, snow and freezing temperatures, the situation is likely to get a lot worse before it gets better.
“It’s unacceptable that this has been allowed to happen, but it’s not too late to act. We call on the government to support health boards so they can make the improvements needed to tackle delayed discharges and improve patient flow.”
Health and social care services across Scotland are undergoing vital renewal and reform to ensure they remain high quality and person centred.
To support this, Scottish Government has commissioned Healthcare Improvement Scotland to develop the Scottish Approach to Change. The Scottish Approach to Change provides a clear pathway to support everyone to do change well.
On Friday 21 November, we hosted the launch of the Scottish Approach to Change in Edinburgh.
We had almost 100 people joining us in-person and online. We brought together senior leaders from across health and social care to explore how the Scottish Approach to Change can help drive meaningful change.
Caroline Lamb (Chief Executive of NHS Scotland and Director-General Health and Social Care) (above), Dr John Harden (National Clinical Lead for Quality and Safety), and Joanna Macdonald (National Chief Social Work Adviser and Chief Executive of the National Social Work Agency, Scottish Government) highlighted the strategic importance of the approach in supporting health and social care renewal.
Leaders from North Lanarkshire HSCP, Dumfries and Galloway NHS board and HSCP, and NHS Forth Valley showcased real life examples of how the approach is already helping them to deliver transformational change.
The Scottish Approach to Change is supported by a digital resource which was launched in September. It’s available to any health and social care organisation looking to implement change and improve their services.
It brings together a wide range of tools and methods to help people plan and deliver person centred change.
BBC Scotland Reporter, David Cowan, has opened up on his experience with mouth cancer after finding a lump in his neck led to his diagnosis and successful treatment.
After looking up his symptoms on the NHS website, the Edinburgh journalist booked a GP appointment, in a decision that meant his mouth cancer was detected early, giving him a 90% chance of successful treatment.
David says the treatment was tough, but by June 2018 he was given the all-clear. Seven years on, he’s living well, enjoying life with his family and their dog, and supporting Mouth Cancer Action Month to raise awareness as part of Scottish Government’s ‘Be The Early Bird’ campaign:
‘BE THE EARLY BIRD’ CASE STUDY – DAVID COWAN
David Cowan, 58, Edinburgh – “It’s far better to know whether you’ve got cancer or not, you need to not delay and get it checked out.”
In late 2017, TV reporter David Cowan, from Edinburgh, noticed a small, hard, painless lump in his neck just weeks after his 50th birthday. After checking the NHS website, he booked a GP appointment, a decision he now credits with saving his life.
“My awareness of mouth cancer was pretty much very, very superficial. I knew it existed. I knew the dentists checked when they examined you, to see if there were any warning signs there, but it never occurred to me that it would happen to me.
“I was also blissfully unaware that the human papillomavirus (HPV) is linked to mouth cancer in a significant number of cases. I knew very little about it and had no real understanding of the risks it can pose.
“A few weeks after my 50th birthday, I noticed a lump in my neck, it was about the size of a wine gum. It was hard, just underneath my jaw line, and it wasn’t sore, and it just appeared.
“I thought that’s strange. I didn’t do anything about it for a few days. I thought it would go away, then I decided to look up my symptoms on the NHS website, and the advice came up very clearly that if you’ve got a painless, hard lump in your neck that doesn’t go away, you should contact your GP practice.
“They immediately referred me to specialists. My GP later told me she thought straight away that it could be cancer.
“I was sent to a NHS Lothian clinic in Edinburgh for tests and about a month later, another doctor felt the lump on my neck and said, ‘that’s cancer.’
“Because it had been found early, I was told there was a 90% chance of the treatment being successful.
“The treatment process was hard, I lost two stones and was off work for five months, but of course it was worth it, because I’m still here.
“It’s not pleasant treatment if you have mouth cancer, and my consultant had warned me about that from the start.
“They explained what was going to happen, and I remember, during treatment, thinking, ‘they did warn me this would happen.’
“I had no real hesitation in getting my symptom checked out because the NHS website told me to do that, and I’m very glad I did. Thinking that you might have cancer is scary, but it’s far better to know than just sitting there in the dark and delaying getting symptoms checked out.”
“I felt like I was in the expert embrace of the NHS; my experience was extremely positive throughout the whole thing. People talk about fighting cancer, I felt the NHS fought my cancer for me, and I just went along for the ride.”
“I also had fantastic support from family, friends and work colleagues. They helped me approach the whole experience in a positive way, which the doctors told me was very important.”
“I got the all-clear in June 2018. It was a massive relief. Lots of great things have happened in the seven years since I had cancer that I might have been deprived of had I not got back to full health with the help of the NHS.”
“I now try to appreciate the smaller things in life more and just remember how fortunate I am to be here.
“Having cancer is a life-changing event, but now I’m living well and enjoying life with my family and our dog.”
David was asked to share his story and the benefits of early detection as part of the Be the Early Bird campaign and to raise awareness amidst Mouth Cancer Action Month in November.
“We do need to raise more awareness of mouth cancer. I was told my mouth cancer was relatively rare, but was becoming more common. I’m delighted to see that young boys, as well as girls, are now getting human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccinations in school to help prevent this happening to them.
“It doesn’t matter where the cancer is, if you get it detected early, you’ve got a better chance of successful treatment. The crucial thing about cancer is getting treated as early as you possibly can, and that means if people are worried about something, they have to seek help, no matter how scary it might be.
“I feel very lucky to be here. The message of the Be the Early Bird campaign this Mouth Cancer Action Month is, if you’re worried about something, no matter if you have reservations about going, please go and get it checked out.”
