Recommendation 33

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 out what it seeks to achieve in the first two years, over five years and in the longer term. We reiterate our previous recommendation of an objective to reduce diagnosis times for reproductive health conditions such as endometriosis, to give clearer focus to the strategy. We also call for the inclusion of a dedicated focus on adolescent menstrual healthcare, with clear care pathways. This would align with the Government’s ambition to move from treating sickness to prevention. Addressing racial inequality must also be at the heart of any renewal of the Women’s Health Strategy, with clear targets to close the persistent gaps in outcomes and experiences for girls and young women from minority racial and ethnic groups. (Recommendation, Paragraph 133)