Scottish women are 'dying needlessly' because doctors do not take their symptoms seriously, charity warns

From the Newshound archive · first published 19 September 2026.

Women in Scotland are 50% more likely than men to be misdiagnosed after a heart attack, and wait an average of 20 weeks for a heart failure diagnosis compared to just 3.6 weeks for men. Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland has launched a three-year Women's Health Plan to tackle the crisis. Four in five women say healthcare professionals do not listen to them, and women are nearly twice as likely as men to die from asthma.

Women are less likely to be offered testing within 72 hours of a heart attack or prescribed medication to prevent a second one.

CHSS chief executive Jane-Claire Judson said: 'Women have been telling us for years that their symptoms aren't being taken seriously, and the evidence backs them up.'

Angela Bradley, 56, from Dalkeith, survived two strokes and multiple aneurysms while putting her own health 'on the back burner' to care for her grandson.