Key Summary
- The Women’s Health Strategy has been renewed to focus on timely care and putting patient experiences at the heart of the healthcare system.
- Gynaecological care has been streamlined to ensure faster access for conditions like endometriosis and fibroids, with a new focus on effective pain relief for invasive procedures.
- A new trial will link provider funding directly to women’s feedback, aiming to hit "medical misogyny where it hurts—the wallet."
The UK government has renewed its Women’s Health Strategy to ensure that women receive timely, effective care, and their feedbacks will be treated on priority.
Under the updated plan, women’s experiences will be placed at the centre of the healthcare system, and acted upon.
In a significant move toward accountability, a new trial will see women’s feedback taken into consideration when determining provider funding.
In addition, women will be directed to the right professional through a single referral point, along with marrying local services with online support to drastically cut waiting lists.
This new plan also ensures that women no longer face years-long waits for diagnosis and treatment for conditions like endometriosis, which can take nearly a decade to diagnose.
A major highlight of the renewed standard of care is a commitment to providing appropriate pain relief, particularly during invasive gynaecological procedures.
The statement mentions pain management for hysteroscopies and contraceptive fittings, areas where women have historically reported being "gaslit" or having their pain dismissed.
Health and Social Care Secretary, Wes Streeting, said: “We inherited a broken NHS, which was particularly felt by women, who have for so long been let down by a healthcare system that too often gaslights women, treating their pain as an inconvenience and their symptoms as an overreaction.
“Whether it’s being passed from one appointment to another for conditions like endometriosis and fibroids, or a lack of proper pain relief during invasive procedures, through to having to navigate symptoms for years before receiving a diagnosis, it’s clear the system is failing women.
“Women’s voices must be central to delivering effective, respectful and empathetic care. We need to hit medical misogyny where it hurts - the wallet. Today’s renewed strategy will tackle the issues women face every day and ensure no woman is left fighting to be heard.”
Dr Sue Mann, NHS England’s clinical director for women’s health, said, ”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.”
This ambitious strategy renewal is made possible by the record £26 billion in funding for the NHS, secured by the UK’s first female Chancellor.
