Scottish hospitals to introduce free period products

Staff, patients and visitors will be given access to free period products in hospitals

Every health board in Scotland has agreed to provide free period products in their hospitals.

BMA Scotland had pressed boards to make products accessible to their healthcare workers - but patients and visitors will also benefit from the move.

Doctors had spoken about the distress caused from bleeding through their scrubs as they had no access to sanitary pads or tampons.

Labour MSP Monica Lennon said staff could now have peace of mind.

In 2020 Scotland became the first country in the world to make period products available to anyone who needs them.

It was also the first country to ensure free products in schools, colleges and universities, and the Period Products (Free Provision) (Scotland) Bill protected this move in law.

• Period products for NHS staff 'a basic necessity'

• Patients 'denied free sanitary products'

• Scotland first in world to make period products free

• Free sanitary products for students

The British Medical Association then launched a campaign for free period products in hospitals, saying it was a dignity in work issue.

It said providing period products could play a huge role in the wellbeing and comfort of their staff.

Ms Lennon, Scottish Labour's health spokeswoman, submitted Freedom of Information requests to all health boards in support of the campaign.

The union said it was disappointed that too many responses showed health boards still did not even have a policy of making period products available and accessible.

'Fundamental to function'

Dr Rosie Baruah, a consultant in critical care and anaesthesia in Edinburgh, told the BBC getting through a busy shift and being able to change your menstrual protection as often as needed was not always easy.

She said this had become even more of an issue during the pandemic with doctors and nurses wearing full PPE and following strict guidelines.

Dr Baruah said menstruation was often "unpredictable" and "frequently messy". She said doctors and nurses could be working far from their usual clinical area with a patient in critical need.

"While you might have access to toilet facilities, if there are no period products there you can end up stuffing your underwear with toilet paper," she said.

"I have had colleagues who have to cut up patient's incontinence pads to place in their own underwear until they can access period products.

"They are seen as this added extra, this luxury, whereas I see them as being absolutely fundamental to being able to function at work."

'Stress and anxiety'

Speaking to the BBC's Drivetime with Fiona Stalker, Ms Lennon said: "When we listen to frontline clinicians you could just feel the stress and anxiety when they were telling different things that had happened.

"I also got a lot of emails from members of the public and they were really grateful to hear about the campaign.

"They were saying we know most doctors can afford to buy period products, it's not really an issue about affordability, but it's about making the product accessible - having them in the staff toilets and restrooms, and also just making it easier for everyone in the hospital, whether you're a patient or a visitor."

Dr Patricia Moultrie, deputy chair of BMA Scotland, said the rollout of free products had begun in some hospitals while others would provide them from April.

She added: "Period products should never be viewed as a luxury item, and while those who need them always do their best to be prepared our bodies are unpredictable and can catch us by surprise.

"To have quick and easy access to products in staff toilets will be hugely reassuring to all members of staff who require them, and I would like to thank Monica Lennon, and every health board across Scotland for supporting us in this endeavour. It may be a small gesture, but it has big meaning."