A year on from the launch of the government's women's health strategy, Richard has welcomed the announcement of new measures to boost the health and wellbeing of women and girls, includes taking action to support those who have experienced the tragedy of baby loss.
Richard Fuller MP said:
A year on from the launch of the women’s health strategy, there is much progress to celebrate. Over 300,000 more women have accessed cheaper HRT and we have added a dedicated women’s health area to the NHS website. But there is plenty more to do.
We are investing £25 million for a new Women’s Health Hub; pledging an extra £10 million to deliver 29 new breast cancer screening units and work continues to support women through the agony of pregnancy 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.
By further enhancing the NHS website, women and girls of all ages will easily access important information about their health providing 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, reducing the cost of HRT to less than £20 a year and saving hundreds of pounds each year for 400,000 women.
The government 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 recently announced include:
- A ‘hackathon’ 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 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 on gov.uk allowing people to look up information about NHS-funded IVF treatment in their area – giving greater transparency on IVF supply.
- 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.
The government is 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, the 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 is being 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.
