Today, the Department of Health and Social Care has launched a new Women’s Health Strategy for England.
The strategy comes after a call for evidence last year saw almost 100,000 responses from women across the country, and over 400 written submissions from organisations and experts in the health and care sector.
The ten year strategy sets out a range of commitments to improve the health of women everywhere.
Responding to the report, Dr Edward Morris, President of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said: “We welcome the publication of this much needed strategy, particularly the focus on information and education across the life course, and the plans to make the NHS website a hub of information for women’s healthcare – something we have called for since the publication of our report Better for Women in 2019.
“We are also pleased that there has been a focus on pregnancy loss and stillbirth, and that the strategy supports the expansion of women’s health hubs so women and girls can have more of their needs met at one time and in one place.
“Crucially, the strategy reiterates the Government’s commitment to tackling inequalities in women’s health, both in terms of barriers to accessing services and disparities in experiences and outcomes. All women should have access to high quality health information and we welcome the recognition that tackling disparities requires action at a whole society level in all health programme. We are disappointed, though, that the strategy falls short of RCOG recommendations in some areas, for example in its commitments around supporting migrant women’s access to care.
“We are also concerned at the lack of dedicated funding to make these ambitions a reality. Confirmed funding to support the instrumental changes the strategy sets out is lacking and with existing budgets already being stretched further each year, it will mean that progress will be slow for vital initiatives like women’s health hubs. As a next step, we hope to see cross-governmental commitment to making this ambitious strategy a reality, including commitment of the necessary funding, so we can work with the Government to make long-lasting improvements to the health of women and girls.”
ENDS
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Notes to Editor
Read the summary and full report here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/womens-health-strategy-for-england