Streeting relaunches women’s health strategy to tackle ‘medical misogyny’ | NHS

Wes Streeting has vowed to stop women being “lit up” by doctors as he relaunches the women’s health strategy for England.

Speaking ahead of the publication of the renewed strategy on Wednesday, Streeting said the NHS was “failing women” and set out measures to help them access the healthcare they need.

The government said the strategy would include a new standard of care to ensure women are offered pain relief during invasive procedures, such as contraceptive IUD insertion and hysteroscopies.

The comments would be directly linked to funding providers through a new trial, giving women the power to withhold payment for fee-for-service health services if their experience is poor.

Steps would also be taken to ensure women no longer face long waits to get a diagnosis of conditions such as endometriosis, which can take a decade to diagnose.

A report published last month by the Women and Equalities Committee found that gynecological and menstrual health had not been “sufficiently prioritized” by the government.

MPs said parts of the Conservatives’ 10-year women’s health strategy, launched in 2022, risk being scaled back or halted as part of wider changes to the NHS. These included initiatives that reduced waiting lists and improved women’s access to health care, such as women’s health centers.

Sarah Owen, committee chair and Labor MP, said: “This would be a disaster for girls’ and women’s period healthcare, when it badly needs more support.

“It is a national scandal that almost half a million women are on hospital gynecology waiting lists when there are effective treatments that could be delivered in primary and community care, if only they could access them.”

The report says women face “medical misogyny” and have to “let go” and suffer for years due to a lack of awareness about women’s health conditions.

Streeting said: “[Women] have been abandoned for so long by a healthcare system that too often wastes women, treating their pain as an inconvenience and their symptoms as an overreaction.

He added: “Whether it’s moving from one appointment to another for conditions like endometriosis and fibroids, to a lack of appropriate pain relief during invasive procedures, to having to manage symptoms for years before receiving a diagnosis, it’s clear the system is failing women.

“Women’s voices must be at the heart of providing effective, respectful and compassionate care. We must hit medical misogyny where it hurts: in the wallet. Today’s renewed strategy will tackle the issues women face every day and ensure no woman fights to be heard.”

Other plans include a £1 million menstrual education program to ensure girls are better equipped to recognize the difference between healthy and unhealthy periods.

An overhaul of clinical pathways for some women’s health conditions will aim to speed up diagnosis and treatment, and support for families facing repeated baby losses will be reviewed.

The government has also promised a “single point of reference” to ensure women are directed to the right place the first time they seek help.

Dr Sue Mann, director of women’s health at NHS England, said too many women were being made redundant due to “serious symptoms” which affected every aspect of their lives. “The renewed women’s health strategy will build significantly on the work done by the NHS to ensure women are heard and get the specialist care they need,” she said.

Women’s health groups have cautiously welcomed the renewed strategy. Emma Cox, chief executive of Endometriosis UK, said decisive action would be vital to improving women’s healthcare in England.