- The Government has announced new measures to support the health and wellbeing of women and girls
- The NHS website has launched the first dedicated women’s health area, with content on over 100 topics
- £25 million will be distributed nationwide to help create women’s health hubs
Greg Hands has welcomed the announcement of new measures to boost the health and wellbeing of women and girls, which includes taking action to support those who have experienced the tragedy of baby loss.
Hundreds of thousands of women have already directly benefited from the strategy and the Government is building on its success by launching a women’s health area on the NHS website. Bringing together over 100 topics on women’s health, the new dedicated area will sit alongside a brand new Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) hub on the website, a page dedicated to adenomyosis and a separate space with important guidance on periods.
Enhancing the NHS website will enable women and girls of all ages to easily access important information about their health by bringing together a range of new and existing content in one place. It also will provide information for women at every stage of their lives on a range of health issues including periods, gynaecological conditions, fertility, pregnancy, heart health and cancers.
The newly launched hub for HRT will help women manage menopausal symptoms and make it easier for them to find information on different types of HRT and help decide which medicine is best suited for them.
This builds on the support offered by the NHS HRT Prescription Payment Certificate launched in April this year. Since the launch, more than 300,000 certificates for HRT have already been purchased, with the new certificates saving the average person around £30 for a year’s supply. This means women could potentially save around £9 million in prescription charges this year.
Acknowledging the work of BBC presenter Naga Munchetty and patient groups to raise awareness of the condition, we have also ensured the NHS website now contains a page on the debilitating condition adenomyosis – including information about symptoms and the treatment currently available.
We have also invested £53 million into the National Institute for Health and Care Research programmes to support women’s health – including research on male violence against women and girls, and a call for further research into testosterone as a treatment for menopause symptoms.
Additional measures announced on 24 July include:
- A ‘hackathon’ will take place this September, where clinicians and data scientists will work to develop an AI tool that can analyse vast amounts of data, helping to identify any early risks and trends in maternity units.
- £25 million will be distributed among areas across England to create women’s health hubs, with each Integrated Care Board set to receive £595,000 to meet local women’s health and wellbeing needs.
- A new tool has been launched on gov.uk allowing people to look up information about NHS-funded IVF treatment in their area – giving greater transparency on IVF supply.
- The Women’s Health Ambassador for England, Professor Dame Lesley Regan, has formed a new network of Women’s Health Champions – made up of senior leaders from every local care system – to drive forward wider work to improve women’s health.
We are also going further and faster to support the wellbeing of women experiencing the heartbreak of baby loss.
This includes issuing a full response to the findings published by the independent Pregnancy Loss Review into the care and support available to women when baby loss occurs before 24 weeks gestation.
As a first step, our published response sets out a commitment to introduce voluntary certificates for parents who have experienced the heartbreak of pre-24-week pregnancy loss to be rolled-out this October during Baby Loss Awareness Week. These certificates will serve as a document that acknowledges pregnancy loss and help bereaved parents with the unimaginable pain and grieving process.
Over this summer, the certificate will be trialled with 1,000 bereaved families, who will be able to advise us on the application process and receive a certificate themselves.
Extensive work will also begin to explore how women who have experienced loss can safely and appropriately store fetal tissue, get 24/7 access to care and those experiencing the devastation of multiple miscarriages receive the treatment and testing they need.
Commenting, Greg Hands said:
“In its first year, the women’s health strategy has achieved so much, with hundreds of thousands of women directly benefitting.
The strategy continues to make a real difference and the launch of new measures including a dedicated women’s health area on the NHS website with over 100 topics on women’s health, will help improve the wellbeing, health and lives of women and girls in England.”
Commenting, Minister for Women’s Health Maria Caulfield said:
“A year on from the launch of our women’s health strategy, we have much progress to celebrate. Over 300,000 more women have accessed cheaper HRT; new women’s health hubs are popping up across the country; and we’re adding a dedicated women’s health area to the NHS website. But there is plenty more to do.
Our work continues to support women through the agony of pregnancy loss. I’d like to thank all the brave and inspiring women who have campaigned tirelessly for change as well as the review leads Zoe Clark-Coates and Samantha Collinge, who carried out this really important review.
We will keep working and investing so girls and women across the country can benefit from the world-class healthcare they deserve.”
ENDS
