The government has said that it will address outdated and misogynistic practices with its renewed Women’s Health Strategy. Although welcomed, how much it will change is moot.
The government has said that it intends to tackle what it calls “outdated and misogynistic practices” under new plans set out in the renewed Women’s Health Strategy.
Women’s experiences will be put at the centre of care across the healthcare system, ensuring patients’ voices are listened to and acted upon, including exploring ways in which women’s feedback can be directly linked to provider funding and targeted improvements through a new trial. The move aims to ensure services are held accountable for listening to women, in a bid to stamp out long-standing issues with women being ignored.
Women will be directed to the right professional the first time through a single referral point, along with marrying local services with online support to drastically cut waiting lists and ensure women no longer face years-long waits for diagnosis and treatment for conditions like endometriosis, which can take nearly a decade to diagnose.
“We have come a long way in the last decade with women’s health being talked about more, but there are still parts of society and the health system that are trapped in outdated thinking,” said Sue Mann, NHS England’s clinical director for women’s health.
Widespread reforms
NHS Online will support women with menstrual and menopausal symptoms, along with bringing care into the community through new and expanded community diagnostic centres, offering services including blood tests and MRIs to dramatically cut waits between gynaecological appointments.
There will also be better access to contraceptive and abortion care with continued support for protected spaces, and the government has promised to review how different levels of support should work for families who experience repeated baby loss.
Other reforms include redesigning clinical pathways for heavy periods, urogynaecology and menopause to speed up diagnosis and treatment; funding a specialist centre in each region to introduce group-based approaches to care, helping women understand and manage their conditions better; and launching a new £1 million programme to improve menstrual education so girls are better equipped to recognise the signs and symptoms of unhealthy periods.
Looking forward, the government has also launched a £1.5 million femtech challenge fund to accelerate the adoption of innovations that could transform women’s healthcare in the future, and it has established the women’s voices partnership to bring organisations representing women together to help inform future policy and decision-making.
Women’s Health Ambassador, Lesley Regan, has called the reforms “the next exciting step in our journey to close the gender health gap”.
An important renewal
The strategy has been broadly welcomed across the industry, with Alison Wright, president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, calling it “an important renewal” of the government’s commitment to delivering an NHS that works for women.
“We welcome the inclusion of many priorities the [College] has long been calling for, including tackling the gynaecology waiting list crisis, raising menstrual health awareness, and supporting sustainable abortion services.”
Jane Plumb, women’s voices lead at the College, added that it is encouraging to see a stronger focus on listening to those using services, including around informed consent and pain.
“Too many women and people have felt unheard, or expected to tolerate pain without proper explanation, choice or support,” she said.
Similarly, Jenny King, chief research officer at international charity Picker, called the strategy “a positive step”.
The question remains, however, what impact this will have. Sarah Scobie, deputy director of research at the Nuffield Trust, sounds a note of caution.
She points out that the ambition for the strategy would require an average gain of 12.8 years of healthy life for women in the most deprived parts of the country and calls this “an exceptional ask in the context of recent decline”.
She argues that while some of the strategies will address underlying causes of poor health, the evidence that these could collectively turn around life expectancy is not provided. “While some of the individual actions can reduce ill health and improve the health service experience for women, it seems unlikely the ambition to improve healthy life expectancy can be achieved,” she concludes.
