Opened the debate
Will the Minister confirm whether it is true that the targets to deal with women’s needs will be dropped? If so, what is her justification for that? Will she be delivering on the roundly welcomed women’s health strategy from 2022?
House of Commons · Urgent Question
Women’s Health Strategy 2025-01-30
30 January 2025 · 16 other contributors
Opened by Mims Davies Con East Grinstead and Uckfield
Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.
At a glance
Mims Davies raised concerns about women’s health strategy 2025-01-30 in the House of Commons. A government minister responded. Other MPs also contributed.
Key points
- Concerns were raised about the potential dropping of targets to address women's needs.
- The Minister thanked the hon. Lady for the opportunity to reaffirm the Government's commitment to the women's health strategy.
- The Minister highlighted the significant gynaecology waiting list inherited upon taking office, standing at just under 600,000 women.
How the debate unfolded
MPs spoke in turn to share their views and ask questions. Here's what each person said.
Other contributors (16)
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Question
Does the Minister agree that women, and women of colour especially, have borne the brunt too often of 14 years of disastrous health policies? How can the Government reverse this trend?
Minister reply
I thank the Committee Chair for her question. I think she was congratulating the previous Committee and Chair rather than those who are now in opposition. The work of many women Members when in opposition, and, to be fair, of many women in the previous Government, have made sure that issues around endometriosis have risen up the agenda; indeed, we had a good debate in the Chamber recently. We are committed to taking forward the strategy.
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Question
Can we have assurances that we will not remove the ICB requirement to have women’s health hubs?
Minister reply
The hon. Gentleman is right to highlight those long waits. That is why we particularly highlighted gynaecology for attention in the elective reform plan. It is shocking that the last Government left 600,000 women on these lists, and moving back to making sure people wait no longer than 18 weeks will predominantly be helping those women.
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Question
Will the Minister assure women in this country that things will change under this Government?
Minister reply
I absolutely will give my hon. Friend that assurance. The situation will change partly because there are more people like her and more women in this place. We have more women across all parties raising this issue and more women in senior positions in the National Institute for Health and Care Research.
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Question
How will our health strategy address treatment and support for young people suffering from depression and anxiety? This follows a tragic case in my constituency involving a local hospital that could not support the patient.
Minister reply
My hon. Friend is right to highlight some tragic incidents, and I know she will be working hard on behalf of her constituents. We are absolutely committed to the women’s health strategy. Clearly, that will be taken forward as part of the 10-year plan, and it is an important part of that. The consultation on that plan is still open for ideas and we encourage young people and those suffering from mental health issues to contribute their thoughts about the system they face.
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Question
Given the enormous problems highlighted by previous speakers, does the Minister appreciate that many women will feel a vital facility is about to be lost and that the Government’s promises of “never again” will sound hollow? What reassurances can she provide?
Minister reply
I am not entirely clear what the hon. Member is referring to. I have been clear that we are committed to the women’s health strategy, and we will take it forward as part of the 10-year plan. Most of the—[Interruption.] If it was about the women’s health hubs, they are mainly there but in different forms and with different levels of services. We want to ensure that the systems reflect their local population needs.
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Question
Does the Minister agree we need more expertise in women’s health hubs to spread good practice across different teams and technology?
Minister reply
My hon. Friend makes an excellent point about maternity services, which are inconsistent and not good enough around the country. It is a source of great alarm for many people. Maternity absolutely remains a high priority within the overall women’s health strategy.
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Question
Why remove targets specifically relating to women from the Government’s agenda going forward? This feels like downgrading the status of women in the NHS.
Minister reply
I will try to be brief, but this is hard to explain—[Interruption.] No, this is to answer the right hon. Gentleman. Targets in the NHS have not been met since 2015, which was under his Government’s watch but, actually, this target has been met—there are only three places in the country that do not have a hub—so there is no target for them because that has already been met.
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Question
Will the women’s health strategy ensure that women can access consistent midwifery services providing genuine choice for safe home births?
Minister reply
My hon. Friend makes an excellent point about maternity services, which are inconsistent and not good enough around the country. It is a source of great alarm for many people. Maternity absolutely remains a high priority within the overall women’s health strategy.
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Question
Can the Minister confirm that eliminating maternal mortality disparity is a target and update on when the NHS plans to achieve this?
Minister reply
The hon. Lady makes the point about using targets. This is something that is a high priority, but it is not happening. That is absolutely why I mentioned it in my opening comments—to ensure that that happens.
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Question
Will the women’s health strategy focus on pre-eclampsia and try to finally find a solution?
Minister reply
My hon. Friend makes a very powerful case and talks of an experience that he and his wife went through forty years ago, which highlights that it can sometimes take an unacceptably long time to get what is known as good practice through the system and to have that consistency for women and their families across the overall system.
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Question
What does spare capacity in the independent sector mean in practice for women waiting more than 18 weeks for gynaecology treatment? How many treatments will the independent sector deliver, and to what timescale?
Minister reply
The hon. Gentleman can tell his women constituents that this Government inherited 600,000 women on those waiting lists, and we are committed—as said in our elective reform plan—to getting those waiting lists down from 18 months to 18 weeks in the lifetime of this Parliament.
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Question
Will the Government explicitly state that they will not draw down women’s access to health hubs or remove their targets?
Minister reply
I have made that commitment several times from this Dispatch Box. We think the women’s health hubs are working across the country—I do not know exactly how the hon. Gentleman’s hub is working at the moment. Only three areas do not have a women’s health hub, and we expect them to get on with that and have one.
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Question
As chair of the all-party parliamentary group on HIV, AIDS and sexual health, may I ask the Minister about the very low take-up of pre-exposure prophylaxis among women in the UK? What steps are being taken to change that? Obviously, there are barriers such as stigma and low levels of information, but does she agree that PrEP should not just be made available in sexual health settings, particularly as we have had the roll-out of opt-out testing?
Minister reply
I thank the right hon. Gentleman for the work he does in this area. He makes an excellent point and I am happy to ensure we write to him with a detailed answer regarding PrEP availability.
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Question
I thank the Minister very much for her answers. The women’s health survey for Northern Ireland closes tomorrow. Through it, the Department of Health back home is hoping to have a greater understanding of how government fails women. Will the Minister make contact with the Northern Ireland Assembly to discuss the health strategy and to share the results and data so that the UK Government and the Northern Ireland Assembly can work better together?
Minister reply
As I hope the hon. Gentleman knows, I am committed to supporting and sharing learning across the United Kingdom. I will ensure we make contact with the Northern Ireland Assembly to discuss health strategies and share relevant results and data.
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Question
On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. On this incredibly important issue of the women’s health strategy, could you help me understand why the word “woman” has been excluded from the updated planning guidance? As a common courtesy to both you and the House, when a Minister is unable to organise herself such that she can get to the Chamber on time, is it not courteous to apologise to those of us she has kept waiting before we were able to discuss this important subject?
Minister reply
Further to the point of order raised by the right hon. Lady, I absolutely and unequivocally apologise for any delay caused.
Government Response
I thank the hon. Lady for giving me the opportunity to set out our commitment to the women's health strategy and everything that this Government are doing to fix our broken NHS, clean up the mess that the Conservatives left after 14 years and get women treated on time again. When we came into office we inherited record waiting lists. The gynaecology waiting list stood at just under 600,000 women. That is why the Prime Minister kicked off 2025 with our elective reform plan, setting out how we will cut the longest waiting lists from 18 months to 18 weeks. Our new agreement with the independent sector will mean that, where there is spare capacity in the private sector, women will be treated faster for gynaecology care, paid for by the state. The Government are committed to rooting out inequalities in maternity care, training more midwives and setting explicit targets to close the black and Asian maternal mortality gap. We piloted a programme to help avoid brain injury for babies in childbirth and extended the baby loss certificate service. Today, there are 80 women's health hubs, with at least nine out of every ten integrated care systems having an open hub. The target was achieved in 93% of integrated care systems, which is why it is not repeated this year’s guidance as it has been met in 39 out of 42 areas.
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