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Women’s Health Strategy for England
20 July 2022
Lead MP
Steve Barclay
Debate Type
Ministerial Statement
Tags
NHSEmploymentWomen & EqualitiesChildren & Families
Other Contributors: 24
At a Glance
Steve Barclay raised concerns about women’s health strategy for england in the House of Commons. A government minister responded. Other MPs also contributed.
How the Debate Unfolded
MPs spoke in turn to share their views and ask questions. Here's what each person said:
Government Statement
The Minister announced the publication of a new women’s health strategy for England, which aims to improve access and care in various areas. Key points include investing £127 million in maternity workforce and neonatal care over the next year, establishing a network of family hubs, creating women's health centres of excellence, improving research on conditions specific to women, enhancing information and education about women’s health issues like menopause through NHS website and partnerships with YouTube for credible content, focusing on workplace support via the Health and Wellbeing Fund, addressing disparities in women's health by providing £10 million towards 25 new mobile breast screening units, improving care after pregnancy loss, removing barriers to fertility treatment access, encouraging businesses to take up menopause workforce pledge. The strategy highlights a range of measures aimed at ensuring better listening, service accessibility, research improvement, information and education enhancement, workplace support, and disparity reduction in women’s health.
Tottenham
Question
How will this strategy address the high number of women on waiting lists for gynaecological care and those experiencing long waits to see a breast cancer specialist?
Minister reply
The Minister responded by outlining measures such as creating women's health hubs, expanding these centres of excellence for holistic assessments, and placing an intense focus on disparities in women’s health through targeted support. He mentioned the £10 million investment in 25 new mobile breast screening units to target underserved areas.
Nigel Huddleston
Con
Ealing North
Question
What measures will the Government introduce to ensure better information and education on women’s health issues, such as menopause?
Minister reply
The Minister highlighted improvements in NHS website content for women's health, partnerships with YouTube for credible clinically safe information, and the introduction of specific assessments on women’s health by medical schools, including training on the menopause and gynaecology.
Rosie Cooper
Lab
West Lancashire
Question
What plans are there to ensure better listening in healthcare for women, specifically addressing instances where women feel not listened to?
Minister reply
The Minister outlined the strategy's commitment to embedding shared decision-making processes and improving service delivery through centres of excellence known as women’s health hubs. These hubs aim to provide a holistic assessment of women's health issues.
Wes Streeting
Lab
Ilford North
Question
The hon. Member for Ilford North thanked the Secretary of State for advance sight of his statement and praised him for recognising the campaigning efforts on women's health issues. However, he criticised the 12 years of Conservative mismanagement that has led to poor outcomes in women’s healthcare, including high waiting times, a shortage of midwives, and higher rates of miscarriage among black women compared to white women. He questioned how exactly the Government intends to use new data to improve outcomes for women, raised concerns about upskilling existing clinicians as well as incoming healthcare professionals, and emphasised the need for better access to hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to end the postcode lottery for treatment.
Minister reply
The Secretary of State acknowledged the points raised by the hon. Member for Ilford North and noted that there is much common ground on both sides of the House regarding the importance of this strategy. He highlighted key initiatives such as appointing a Women’s Health Ambassador, Professor Dame Lesley Regan, to better champion women's health issues. The Government aims to break down data by sex to better target research and improve training for existing clinicians through working with royal colleges. Additionally, he mentioned that prepayment certificates have been put in place to address access to HRT and noted the importance of community diagnostic centres in speeding up service delivery.
Sajid Javid
Con
Bromsgrove
Question
I strongly welcome the women’s health strategy and congratulate everyone involved, including all the officials and especially the excellent Minister of State, Department for Health and Social Care. Does the Secretary of State agree that early diagnosis is essential when it comes to women's health? Will my right hon Friend say a little more about what can be done on training for existing doctors and clinicians?
Minister reply
The work on this strategy was done before I arrived in the Department, so it was down to my right hon. Friend and to the Minister of State, my hon. Friend the Member for Lewes (Maria Caulfield). It is great to have this opportunity to pay tribute to my predecessor for all that he did to drive this agenda forward. He is absolutely right about the importance of training and early diagnosis.
Carolyn Harris
Lab
Neath
Question
I rise to speak specifically on the menopause services included in the strategy. Although better menopause training for doctors of the future is essential, there is not much in the strategy now in terms of upskilling GPs or prescriber medics, such as pharmacists or women’s health nurses. With only 14% of women accessing hormone replacement therapy and menopause care, through medical lack of awareness in diagnosing and prescribing, training medical professionals of the future does nothing for women today.
Minister reply
The hon. Lady says that she is not being listened to, but my understanding is that she is co-chair of the menopause taskforce, which has been set up to look at these issues. Indeed, she has also had meetings with officials on the subject of HRT. It is slightly remiss of her to suggest that she is not being listened to when Health Department officials are meeting with her and when we have a taskforce under way.
Maria Miller
Con
Bromley and Chislehurst
Question
I welcome my right hon Friend’s statement and its recognition of the need to have specific strategies to make sure that women have equal access to services. However, it is silent on the biggest healthcare injustice that women face in our country—that abortion is still treated under Victorian criminal law.
Minister reply
My right hon Friend is right that there is a need for care and compassion, and she highlights an extremely important point. She will be aware that the sexual health review is currently being conducted. That will report later this year and will look into the issue that she raises.
Barnsley South
Question
How will this strategy address the postcode lottery associated with gynaecological wait times?
Minister reply
Again, it is partly by having an ambassador that will be tasked with advocating in that space, by having the data to give visibility to that, and also by working in partnership with commissioning groups, with the NHS, and with the royal colleges on training, that much greater focus will be brought to these issues.
Theresa Villiers
Con
Down South
Question
I thank the Government for bringing forward this strategy. Will my right hon Friend use this to drive forward improvements in care for endometriosis, including, in particular, updating the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines NG73 to make sure that people have earlier diagnoses and better access to pain relief for this debilitating condition?
Minister reply
That was one of the key issues that came out of the consultation responses. Indeed, in my conversation with Dr Watson at Homerton, we looked at different pathways for treatment that avoid the need for theatre. Key to that is some of the innovation on pain management that physicians are looking at, and how, through NICE, we socialise that innovation across the NHS.
Chi Onwurah
Lab
Newcastle upon Tyne Central
Question
The north-east has some of the highest levels of health inequality in the country. North-east women spend more than a quarter of their lives in not good or poor health, which is almost 3 percentage points above the national average. Will the Secretary of State set out the steps that he plans to take to target those areas that already have high levels of inequality?
Minister reply
We are already doing so on things such as the 75 family hubs that we have put in place. Again, a key part of this strategy is to then look at having women’s hubs, particularly in those areas where there is greatest disparity.
Thurrock
Question
I welcome my right hon Friend to his place and the appointment of Dame Lesley Regan as the women’s health ambassador. I know them both to be very passionate and outcome-focused, and, between the two of them, I hope that we will make some headway. He rightly talks about how women do not feel listened to, and we know that women go for many years suffering from very common gynaecological conditions that do not get diagnosed.
Minister reply
I thank my hon Friend for her warm welcome. I agree with her about empowering patients, women in particular, with information. That is why part of the strategy is to focus on the information provided on the NHS website.
Hannah Bardell
SNP
Livingston
Question
I am delighted to see the UK Government follow in the footsteps of the Scottish Government with a women’s health plan. I pay tribute to Sir David Amess for his work on endometriosis, and ask if we can be certain that research and care recommendations will be backed up by proper support and funding.
Minister reply
I thank the hon. Lady for her tribute to Sir David Amess. The Government is committed to better research into women's health issues and ensuring services are reconfigured in a way that gives better outcomes without increasing costs. We aim to have centres of excellence where patients' voices are heard, leading to quicker treatment.
Alec Shelbrooke
Con
Wetherby and Easingwold
Question
I welcome the right hon. Friend's strategy on women’s healthcare and recognise the work done by cross-party members. However, we must carefully monitor centres of excellence and mesh centres to ensure they deliver as intended. We also need to educate about diseases such as endometriosis in schools.
Minister reply
The quality of data will be closely monitored with any specific examples provided. I am happy to discuss with the Department for Education ways to raise awareness of conditions like endometriosis in school curriculums.
Olivia Blake
Lab
Sheffield Hallam
Question
There have been difficulties discussing miscarriage, and my debate last year led to support for measures in The Lancet’s review on miscarriage. Will the strategy include access to 24/7 care, data recording of miscarriages on medical records, and better prevention of unnecessary miscarriages?
Minister reply
The House recognises the trauma of experiencing miscarriage, and we will look at issues raised in The Lancet’s review during this year's pregnancy loss review. I have met with the Minister of State to discuss these matters.
Question
This is an extremely good strategy that recognises the impact of domestic violence on women’s health, particularly for those who are reluctant or embarrassed to go to their GP. Will more training be provided in primary care settings to recognise and help vulnerable women?
Minister reply
My hon. Friend is right about tackling domestic abuse. The Government has passed the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 which will empower victims with support they need, including prosecution, evidence gathering, and data analysis.
Mohammad Yasin
Lab
Bedford
Question
Midwives and maternity services are struggling across the country. What steps are being taken as part of the women’s health strategy to ensure that maternity services are well staffed and resourced?
Minister reply
Steps have already been taken, including an extra £127 million for NHS maternity workforce support and £95 million to recruit additional midwives and consultant obstetricians. The women's health strategy sets out further steps.
Gosport
Question
This commitment addresses some of the fertility inequalities across the country, particularly those hardest to reach. I highlight that there has been a 42% real-terms fall in contraception spending since 2015 and ask for commitment to align with the sexual and reproductive health action plan.
Minister reply
My hon. Friend highlights the difficulty of accessing contraception due to fragmented services. A key part of our approach is working with voluntary and community sectors, visibility of women's health strategy through a women’s health ambassador, and securing prioritisation within commissioning.
Munira Wilson
Lib Dem
Twickenham
Question
The hon. Member for Twickenham highlights the case of a constituent who suffered recurrent miscarriages, noting that such cases disproportionately affect women from black and ethnic minority backgrounds. She questions the specifics of funding proposed by the Secretary of State's commitment to boost research in reproductive health.
Minister reply
Acknowledging the importance of research highlighted by Nicola’s case, the Minister indicates that future funding will be shaped by proposals presented to the National Institute for Health and Care Research and aims to prioritise under-researched areas.
Emma Hardy
Lab
Kingston upon Hull West and Haltemprice
Question
As joint chair of relevant all-party parliamentary groups, Emma raises two issues: the implementation of Cumberlege review recommendations, particularly redress for vaginal mesh sufferers, and the need to recognise endometriosis-friendly workplace policies that respect women’s needs.
Minister reply
Acknowledging the hon. Member's work on mesh campaigns and her concerns about employment discrimination against those with endometriosis, the Minister confirms plans to address time off work issues in consultations.
Diana R. Johnson
Lab
Kingston upon Hull North and Cottingham
Question
Welcoming the appointment of a women’s health ambassador, Diana queries specific plans for removing barriers to co-commissioning of reproductive healthcare services to ensure seamless delivery.
Minister reply
Responding positively, the Minister highlights efforts like establishing one-stop shop women's health hubs aimed at improving access and quality of care in contraception and other areas.
Rachel Hopkins
Lab
Luton South and South Bedfordshire
Question
Concerned about disparities in maternal mortality rates, Rachel asks what targeted solutions the maternity taskforce will propose to address this issue.
Minister reply
The Minister confirms work is ongoing with recommendations from the taskforce that will be published shortly, addressing data disparity issues.
Ruth Cadbury
Lab
Brentford and Isleworth
Question
Welcoming the women’s strategy but advocating for further improvement in pain management diagnosis, Ruth requests assurance on training to address gender biases.
Minister reply
Acknowledging the need for cultural change alongside system changes, the Minister outlines plans to empower patients through NHS resources and retraining existing clinicians.
Jim Shannon
DUP
Strangford
Question
Welcoming additional moneys for women’s health training, Jim enquires about extending GP training specifically in menopause management.
Minister reply
Highlighting the importance of addressing the menopause through clinical training recommendations by a dedicated taskforce.
Shadow Comment
Wes Streeting
Shadow Comment
The Shadow Minister welcomed the statement but criticised the Government's track record on women’s healthcare. He highlighted issues like high waiting times, loss of midwives, gynaecology waiting lists growth, cervical screening declines, and racial disparities in miscarriage rates. Criticisms include insufficient action to improve access to HRT, lack of upskilling existing clinicians beyond incoming medical students, no clear plan to address long waiting lists for diagnosed patients, and the need for assurances on equal endometriosis treatment and polycystic ovary syndrome access. He also addressed racial inequalities, stressing that structural healthcare issues exist which require recognition.
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