The Committee is following up its previous work on women’s reproductive health, with a focus on better meeting the needs of girls and young women. It is assessing progress in diagnoses, treatments and pain management of conditions including endometriosis, adenomyosis and heavy menstrual bleeding.
| Title | HC No. | Published | Items | Response |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12th Report – Menstrual health of girls and young women | HC 1265 | 4 Mar 2026 | 43 | Overdue |
| Easy Read – 12th Report – Menstrual health of girls and you… | HC 1265 | 4 Mar 2026 | 0 | Overdue |
| BSL report summary – 12th Report – Menstrual health of girl… | HC 1265 | 4 Mar 2026 | 0 | Overdue |
We welcome the changes to the statutory guidance on relationships and sex education and health education (RSHE). They are the crucial first step towards ensuring all girls have an adequate understanding of their menstrual cycle and know when and how to seek help for period problems. The challenge now is …
The Government should encourage schools to use part of the RSHE grant funding to train teachers on the menstrual and gynaecological health elements of the curriculum. The Department for Education should work with the Department of Health and Social Care and stakeholders such as Wellbeing of Women and the Royal …
The new RSHE guidance on menstrual and gynaecological health needs to recognise the diversity of experiences of menstruation and menstrual health. Many, including Deaf BSL signers and children with learning disabilities, will also face communication barriers to effective menstrual education. Girls from different racial and ethnic groups and disabled and …
The Department for Education and the Department of Health and Social Care should work with expert stakeholders to ensure the range of guidance being produced to support the introduction of the new RSHE curricula in September 2026 reflects the diversity of experiences of menstrual wellbeing and needs of students. Schools …
As part of the rollout of the updated RSHE curriculum, the Department for Education should develop resources and guidance for teachers and other school staff to embed menstrual health awareness and support at a whole school level. That guidance should include advice on best practice on access to period products …
While take up of the period product scheme is high there are still some institutions that have not engaged. The Government should seek to understand why some schools and colleges have not participated in the scheme and encourage them to do so. The scheme should be extended indefinitely. The Government …
Reports that access to school toilets is being restricted are troubling. The Government should investigate the extent to which this is happening and request that school leaders take alternative approaches to tackling issues regarding discipline. (Recommendation, Paragraph 39)
School nurses can play a crucial role in helping girls recognise menstrual problems and provide a necessary, early pathway to appropriate care. However, the school nurse system has seen a substantial overall reduction in funding over many years and is now severely under-resourced. Many pupils have no access at all …
The renewed Women’s Health Strategy should include an aim to improve the provision of school nurses, particularly in more deprived areas, where need is often greatest. Improving early access to care reduces the risk of symptoms worsening and the increased health and economic costs that accompany delayed treatment. Investment in …
We congratulate Wellbeing of Women on developing and rolling out its period symptom checker. It is an excellent tool, which has the potential to be a major breakthrough in improving awareness and understanding of menstrual health problems and speeding up girls’ and women’s access to 70 care and treatments. We …
Wellbeing of Women’s period symptom checker should be added to the NHS app. The Government should work with Wellbeing of Women to determine whether conditions in addition to heavy bleeding and pain, such as irregular bleeding, depression and anxiety, might also be captured by the checker. (Recommendation, Paragraph 55)
The Government’s use of social media to disseminate engaging and accurate information and advice for girls and younger women on menstrual health has been poor. The 2022 Women’s Health Strategy talked ambitiously about raising awareness and understanding through social media. Two YouTube videos and ad hoc information posted on Instagram …
Countering women’s health misinformation through increased official and accurate social media content is vital and should be a key part of the renewed Women’s Health Strategy. The renewed Strategy must include a clear plan with measurable actions and targets to demonstrate that this is a top priority. (Recommendation, Paragraph 62)
The Government must improve NHS England’s processes for approving and publishing third-party health content. There is a growing number of expert healthcare professionals putting out accurate, engaging and helpful information on social media that merits wider publication and promotion via official channels. The Government should expand the channels via which …
The suppression of vital online information about women’s health is a pressing issue, which requires immediate action. The assurances provided to us by the Minister were inadequate. We do not share the Government’s confidence that the Online Safety Act 2023’s transparency and accountability provisions will solve the problem, and, in …
The Government must hold social media platforms to account for inappropriate censorship of important women’s health content. “Shadow banning” is unacceptable and must cease. Social media companies must 71 recognise the significant role they play in girls’ and women’s access to important health-related content. The Government must ensure that strategies …
FemTech apps such as period trackers have the potential to transform girls’ and women’s understanding of, and ability to advocate for, their menstrual health and wellbeing. The 2022 Women’s Health Strategy, however, was not sufficiently alert to the risks. These apps are now very popular with girls and younger women, …
The Government should set out in the renewed Women’s Health Strategy a rigorous approach to tackling the risks from ineffective, unsafe and exploitative for-profit FemTech apps. To combat demand for these apps the Government must increase resourcing of the NHS’s Innovation, Research and Life Sciences team, to drive forward NHS …
Dismissal of women’s period problems and the normalisation of period-related pain in primary care is now recognised as a concern by the healthcare sector. However, there is little evidence of systemic improvement. Young women and girls are still reporting their concerns being ignored, being told they are too young get …
The renewal of the Women’s Health Strategy must include an objective accompanied by clear actions to improve the level of awareness among all primary care practitioners of menstrual health conditions, including that symptoms can begin at puberty. This will require targeted funding and ring- fenced time for GP training. (Recommendation, …
We were dismayed to learn that training modules in menstrual and gynaecological health for nurses are very limited and typically undertaken only by those who choose to “specialise” in women’s health. Nurses are at the frontline of sexual and reproductive healthcare, and they should all have a solid grounding in …
The Government must work with the Royal College of Nursing to ensure that menstrual health is included in the standard training offer for all nurses. The renewed Women’s Health Strategy must include this as an objective together with a clear plan and timeline for implementation. (Recommendation, Paragraph 101)
Discriminatory attitudes and assumptions about the pain tolerances of women from some racial and ethnic minority groups, particularly Black women, persist. This is wholly unacceptable. Racial discrimination by healthcare professionals must be vigorously rooted out. It is deeply disappointing that robust action to tackle this pernicious problem has not yet …
Girls and young women with disabilities and sensory impairments face additional barriers to menstrual wellbeing. Taboos around periods are compounded by those around disability. Disabled and Deaf girls’ period- related needs are routinely ignored or dismissed. We were shocked to hear that girls in specialist spinal cord injury centres receive …
The Government must work with the health and care sectors’ professional bodies to improve health and social care practitioners’ understanding of the menstrual wellbeing needs of young disabled and Deaf women. The needs of this group were underrepresented in, and underserved by, the Women’s 73 Health Strategy published in 2022. …
The renewed Women’s Health Strategy should include a specific objective on improving the menstrual wellbeing of disabled and Deaf girls and young women. This should include provision of information and advice in suitable formats, including in Easy Read for girls with learning disabilities and in British Sign Language for Deaf …
There has been long-overdue progress towards tackling the problem of painful gynaecological procedures such as hysteroscopies and some intrauterine device contraceptive coil fittings. The relevant guidelines from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the College of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare on avoiding unnecessary pain are now good and …
We are partly reassured by the evidence of NHS England’s National Clinical Director for Women’s Health that the renewed Women’s Health Strategy for England will include measures on ensuring women have sufficient information in advance of procedures to make informed choices; improving training for healthcare professionals; and new pain relief …
We urge the NHS to record the pain history of women undergoing procedures so that their needs can be prepared for. The NHS should be able to anticipate that someone who has previously struggled, for example with a smear test, may require additional support, such as sedation or anaesthesia, for …
Additional support for women undergoing painful procedures comes at a cost but is a price that must be paid. The Government should recognise this increase in costs in its allocation of funding to providers such as sexual health services. Women should not be put through harrowing, painful procedures due to …
We have expedited this Report because we were not convinced by the Government’s evidence that its forthcoming renewal of the Women’s Health Strategy for England will be adequate to address the fundamental issues in girls’ and young women’s menstrual healthcare, or that women’s health will be appropriately prioritised in its …
As much as we want to see progress, the Government must not rush out an inadequate strategy, which does not properly set out how it aligns and interacts with wider health sector reforms. A renewed Women’s Health Strategy must be carefully thought out and include clear and deliverable actions, accompanied …
Implementation of the 10-year Health Plan for England alongside a renewed Women’s Health Strategy could be a turning point in how women and girls experience menstrual healthcare in this country, but the strategies must be clearly aligned and include clear commitments on women’s health. The Women’s Health Strategy should set …
We are concerned that the ongoing merger of NHS England into the Department of Health and Social Care poses risks to delivery of a renewed Women’s Health Strategy for England. The Government must ensure that 75 it retains the capacity and expertise to deliver on women’s health reforms. The renewed …
85% or more of women on elective gynaecology hospital waiting lists do not need to be there because there are effective treatments for their symptoms, which could be administered in primary or community-based care, if only they could access them. That is approaching half a million women in England with …
The fragmented commissioning system for long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) is preventing many women from accessing LARC, which can be an effective treatment for menstrual problems. The current system results in many women being added unnecessarily to huge elective gynaecology waiting lists for hospital treatment. It also discriminates against women in …
The renewed Women’s Health Strategy must include increasing access to long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) as a top priority. There must be a shift across the healthcare system to view LARC as a tool for menstrual health management, not only for contraception. The current commissioning rules prevent far too many girls …
A key success of women’s health hubs is that they have facilitated co- commissioning of long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) by public authority sexual health services and NHS services. This can be an effective workaround for a dysfunctional LARC commissioning system that has been unfit for purpose since the Health and …
We strongly disagree with the Minister’s argument that further ringfenced funding to support NHS Integrated Care Boards to maintain and develop women’s health hubs is unnecessary. The implementation of women’s health hubs is not complete. There are inconsistencies in provision, they do not cover all areas of the country and …
We are concerned that women’s health hubs have not been specified in the 2025/6 operational planning guidance. There is a high risk that without a central requirement to deliver women’s health hubs, and with Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) required to find substantial efficiency savings, they will be scaled back or …
The renewed Women’s Health Strategy should include a refreshed national commitment to women’s health hubs across England. We recommend the Government invest at least the same amount as in 2023–25 (£25 million) in ringfenced Integrated Care Board funding for women’s health hubs. 77 This should come with increased accountability, including …
The renewed Women’s Heath Strategy should set out ambitions for increased research into menstrual health conditions, with specific targets and actions that will incentivise funders, industry and clinical academia to prioritise this area. Such research should focus on the root causes of conditions as well as improving diagnosis and treatment. …
A substantial increase in research into menstrual health conditions is long overdue and would represent a huge stride forwards in recognising the impacts these conditions have on the lives of women and girls. However, as this inquiry has shown, better diagnostic tools and treatments coming on stream will not solve …
| Date | Witnesses | |
|---|---|---|
| 3 Feb 2026 | Baroness Merron · Department of Health and Social Care, Dr Sue Mann · NHS England, Tabitha Jay · Department for Health and Social Care | View ↗ |
| 21 Jan 2026 | Dr Sue Mann · NHS England, Professor Dame Lesley Regan | View ↗ |
| 17 Dec 2025 | Charlotte Porter · The College of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare, Kate Lancaster · Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG), Professor Margaret Ikpoh · Royal College of General Practitioners, Ruth Bailey · Women's Health Forum, Royal College of Nursing | View ↗ |
| 3 Dec 2025 | Chella Quint OBE, Dr Aziza Sesay, Dr Nighat Arif, Dr Tori Ford · Medical Herstory, Kerry Wolstenholme | View ↗ |
| 19 Nov 2025 | Dr Nandi Simpson · NHS Race and Health Observatory, Emma Cox · Endometriosis UK, Janet Lindsay · Wellbeing of Women, Katharine Gale · Menstrual Health Coalition | View ↗ |