Women make up 51% of the UK population and account for 48% of the UK workforce. Although women in the UK on average live longer than men, they spend a significant proportion of their lives in ill health and disability in comparison to men. Not enough focus is placed on women-specific issues like miscarriage or menopause for example, and women are often under-represented when it comes to important clinical trials. This has meant that not enough is known about the conditions that only affect women, or about how conditions that affect both men and women affect them in different ways.
NHS England carried out a huge public call for evidence in 2021 where they received over 100 thousand responses from women across the country and 400 written submission from organisations and experts in healthcare. The survey showed that a staggering 84% of respondents felt they had not been listened to by a healthcare professional, and reported:
- They were told heavy and painful periods was normal and that you will grow out if this
- Trauma from child birth is normal
- A lack of support when they hit menopause, not only in the workplace but when they went to seek help and advice by healthcare professionals
- Huge proportion of women felt their needs were not always listened to specifically during childbirth which was also highlighted in large scale enquiries by Ockendon and Kirkup reports
- Disabled women felt often unable to access services in person
- There was inequity in terms of access for ethnic minority groups not being able to access screening appointments such as routine smears / screening
- Transgender people reported feeling uncomfortable accessing services (these are transgender people who were assigned female at birth)
- And inequity around access to HRT including fitting intra uterine systems or vaginal pessaries.
These responses has shaped the Women’s Health Strategy published in 2022, available here.
Women’s Health Strategy
Following these findings from the call for evidence the Women’s Health Strategy was written with a clear ambition that within 10 years it will have:
- boosted health outcomes for all women and girls
- radically improved the way in which the health and care system engages and listens to all women and girls
This will be achieved by:
- taking a life course approach
- focusing on women’s health policy and services throughout their lives
- embedding hybrid and wrap-around services as best practice
- boosting the representation of women’s voices and experiences in policy-making, and at all levels of the health and care system
- We will bring together everyone across the healthcare system to act as the catalyst for the long-term change we all want to see.
The strategy sets out a six point long term plan for transformational change which includes:
- women’s voices
- information and awareness
- access to services
- disparities in health outcomes between women
- health in the workplace
- education and training for health and care professionals
- research and evidence
- data and digital
Women’s Health Hubs
We are working who our system partners to set up health hubs for our women. Women’s health hubs bring together healthcare professionals and existing services to provide integrated women’s health services in the community, centred on meeting women’s needs across the life course. Hub models aim to improve access to and experiences of care, improve health outcomes for women, and reduce health inequalities. This will be the first step toward reducing inequalities and providing better access to basics services women require.
