Women’s Health Strategy

Women’s Health Strategy

● This Government has prioritised women’s health, including by increasing choice for women by making progestogen-only contraceptive pills available from pharmacies without prescription; committing to cut the cost of hormone replacement therapy; making record investment in health and education; and banning both virginity testing and hymenoplasty, as part of our wider work to tackle violence against women and girls.

● But there is more to do. Over four in five women (85 per cent) feel, or are perceived to feel, comfortable talking to healthcare professionals about general physical health concerns. This falls to less than three in five women when discussing mental health conditions (59 per cent).

● Decades of sex-based health disparities will be addressed with England’s first ever Women’s Health Strategy, which we will publish this year. This will reset the dial on women’s health, setting out an ambitious and positive new approach, ensuring the system offers equal access to effective care and support and prioritising care on the basis of clinical need.

● The Strategy will be underpinned by the analysis from almost 100,000 responses to the Call for Evidence we ran in 2021. This heard directly from women to understand their experiences of the health and care system, so we can make sure women’s voices are at the centre of the Strategy.

● The Strategy will focus both on priority healthcare issues for women across the course of their lives:

o priority healthcare issues: menstrual health and gynaecological conditions; fertility, pregnancy, pregnancy loss and post-natal support; the menopause; healthy ageing and long-term conditions; mental health; and the health impacts of violence against women and girls; and

o thematic priorities: women’s voices; healthcare policies and services; information and education; health in the workplace; and research evidence and data.

● Our Vision for the Women’s Health Strategy for England, published in December 2021, set out the life course approach we will take, ensuring we understand the changing health and care needs of women and girls across their lives, rather than focussing on interventions for a single condition, often at a single life stage.

● The Vision also announced the first ever Women’s Health Ambassador for

England. The Ambassador will focus on raising the profile for women’s health, increasing awareness of taboo topics, and bringing in a range of collaborative voices to implement the Women’s Health Strategy.

Key facts

● The top five topics respondents want the Government to prioritise are: gynaecological conditions (63 per cent); fertility, pregnancy, pregnancy loss and post-natal support (55 per cent); the menopause (48 per cent); menstrual health (47 per cent); mental health (39 per cent).

● The Government and NHS are already implementing a programme of work to improve menopause care so that all women can access the support they need.

This includes:

o the establishment of the UK Menopause Taskforce to take a holistic approach to menopause care, from healthcare to workplace support and education. The

Taskforce is working to join up and accelerate work across the UK;

o a commitment to reduce the hormone replacement therapy prescription cost, which will improve access. We will implement a bespoke pre-payment certificate from April 2023, subject to consultation with all relevant representative bodies; and

o establishing the NHS ‘Menopause Pathway Improvement Programme’, in

January 2021, which is working to improve clinical menopause care in

England and reduce disparities in access to treatment. The NHS is also working to develop an education and training package for healthcare professionals.

● The Government has taken swift action to implement many of the recommendations from Baroness Cumberlege’s Independent Medicines and

Medical Devices Safety Review, which examined how the healthcare system responded to concerns raised by patients, particularly women, about three medical interventions: sodium valproate, the hormone pregnancy test Primodos and pelvic mesh. In particular we have:

o legislated to establish a Patient Safety Commissioner whose role will be to promote patient safety and the patient voice in the context of the use of medicines and medical devices. We expect the first Commissioner to be appointed later this year; and

o established nine specialist centres across the UK for those adversely affected by pelvic mesh.

● The Health Secretary has committed to implement the three specific asks for him in the final Ockenden Report into maternity services at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, published on 30 March 2022. All maternity provider trusts have been asked to assess themselves against the 15 Immediate and Essential

Actions outlined in the report and NHS England and improvement will set out a delivery plan.

● NHS England and NHS improvement are investing £127 million into maternity services in the next year for NHS workforce and improving neonatal care. This is on top of the £95 million investment into the recruitment of 1,200 midwives and 100 maternity consultants.