Recommendation 40

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 discontinued. We believe this would be a disaster for girls’ and women’s menstrual health, when it is in dire need of more support. Given that key aims of the Government’s 10-year Health Plan for England, including prevention and community-based care, have been shown to be well supported by women’s health hubs, it would be self-defeating of the Government to deny ICBs the funding they need to maintain and develop them. The Government should protect the hubs that have been created, ensure no rollback of services and explore how best practice can be disseminated as widely as possible. (Conclusion, Paragraph 158)