Source · Select Committees · Women and Equalities Committee
1st Report - Women's reproductive health conditions
Women and Equalities Committee
HC 337
Published 11 December 2024
Recommendations
8
Accepted
Para 35
Improve NHS website with interactive tools, guidelines, accessibility, and mental health support
Recommendation
To supplement improvements in the provision of information on the NHS website, we recommend the inclusion of an interactive tool which can help women to determine whether they might have a reproductive health condition. We further recommend that information on …
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Government Response Summary
The government emphasised that healthcare professionals are expected to provide comprehensive information, discuss treatment options, pain relief, and use shared decision-making, citing existing NHS England guidance. It also noted that women's health hubs provide specialist knowledge, but did not commit to any new actions regarding an interactive website tool, specific website content, or commissioning new hubs.
Government Equalities Office
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11
Accepted
Para 54
Implement urgent NHS training challenging racial biases to improve reproductive healthcare in primary care.
Recommendation
The NHS needs to urgently implement a training programme to improve the experience of treatment and diagnosis in primary care for women, girls, trans and non-binary people with reproductive ill health. Improving early diagnosis, including through the provision of follow …
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Government Response Summary
The government recognises the importance of raising awareness and committing to addressing racial biases, referring to an existing RCGP Women's Health Library with educational resources for primary care professionals. It also points to NHS England's plan to meet 18-week treatment standards by March 2029 for earlier diagnoses.
Government Equalities Office
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37
Accepted
Para 137
Medical schools provide insufficient training on women’s reproductive health, impacting practitioner knowledge.
Recommendation
Training on women’s reproductive health in medical schools needs to be improved. Healthcare practitioners are graduating without sufficient knowledge of the conditions that may affect women over their lifetime . 78 Without that education, healthcare professionals are less likely to …
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Government Response Summary
The government acknowledges the importance of training and describes existing measures, such as GMC standards, the new MLA assessment topics (including women's health), and mandatory obstetrics and gynaecology rotations, as already addressing the need for improved education.
Government Equalities Office
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39
Accepted
Train primary care practitioners to identify hidden reproductive health concerns during routine interactions.
Recommendation
Primary care practitioners should be trained to use women’s common interactions with the healthcare system, such as cervical screening appointments, ante- and post-natal care checks and visits to STI clinics, as an opportunity to pick up hidden health concerns relating …
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Government Response Summary
The government accepts the recommendation, stating work is underway and committing to holding webinars for primary care practitioners, reviewing and updating existing e-learning packages, and referencing 2023 guidance on postnatal checks and the role of women’s health hubs.
Government Equalities Office
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49
Accepted
Allocate increased ringfenced funding for research into women’s reproductive health and boost clinical academia interest.
Recommendation
The Government should allocate increased, ringfenced funding to support research into the causes, diagnosis and treatment of women’s reproductive health conditions. While increased funding will in itself attract more researchers to this area, NHS England and research bodies should also …
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Government Response Summary
The government recognises the importance of funding and building research capacity in women's reproductive health, detailing how NIHR and UKRI fund research through open competition and training awards. It highlights existing initiatives and examples of current funding, but does not commit to new ringfenced funding.
Government Equalities Office
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Conclusions (6)
1
Conclusion
Accepted
Para 23
High quality education about reproductive health is vital. Educating girls about their periods and the possibility of related conditions at a young age safeguards them against the distress of not understanding what is happening to their bodies and empowers them to identify problems and to seek help. We welcome the …
Government Response Summary
The government agrees on the importance of comprehensive menstrual health education and states the Department for Education is reviewing the RSHE statutory guidance, including menstrual and gynaecological health, with consultation results and its response to be published this year.
6
Conclusion
Accepted
Para 33
We welcome the ongoing improvements to the NHS website to include information about a wider range of women’s reproductive health conditions, information to specific communities and signposts to support and the ambition to include that information in alternative formats.
Government Response Summary
The government outlined existing plans for reforming elective care, including gynaecology pathways in community diagnostic centres, aiming to meet the 18-week referral-to-treatment standard by March 2029. It also highlighted ongoing Office for National Statistics studies on endometriosis and NHS England's work on developing metrics for timely access and outcomes.
10
Conclusion
Accepted
Para 53
There is a clear lack of awareness and understanding of women’s reproductive health conditions among primary healthcare practitioners, particularly when those conditions occur in young women and girls. Women are finding their symptoms normalised and their pain dismissed, with an ingrained belief among some healthcare professionals that women, 73 particularly …
Government Response Summary
The government agreed on the importance of addressing women’s pain and experiences. It committed that NHS England, with DHSC, will review the potential of conducting the Reproductive Health Survey regularly and that NHS England will review national data collection processes and protocols, including scoping a patient experience measure for women’s health services.
17
Conclusion
Accepted
Para 80
The NHS must do more to monitor and enforce protocols governing procedures such hysteroscopy, IUD fitting and cervical screening and ensure that they are underpinned by informed consent and are trauma-informed. A risk assessment that allows a patient to make an informed choice on the recommended procedure should be undertaken …
Government Response Summary
The government commits to NHS England publishing a suite of adult and children's elective performance metrics, long waits, and waiting times data in an accessible format by March 2027. It will also increase the availability of elective, cancer, and outpatient data and expand diagnostic coding in elective care.
20
Conclusion
Accepted
Para 89
Individuals with a suspected or diagnosed reproductive health condition should be offered specialist mental health support from when they start to report distressing and/or painful symptoms and throughout diagnosis and treatment. Delays at each step of the process and a lack of treatment options make mental health support all the …
Government Response Summary
The government highlights existing Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARCs) providing 24/7 care and enhanced mental health pathways for victims of rape and sexual assault. It states NHS England will review and develop website content for those needing help, and will consider the committee's broader recommendations as the Women’s Health Strategy is taken forward.
47
Conclusion
Accepted
Finding the causes of women’s reproductive health conditions and new and better diagnostic tools and treatments for them cannot happen without sufficient research, which includes all groups of women and others affected, at different life stages. Yet research remains lacking because it is not adequately prioritised by funders or commissioners …
Government Response Summary
The government fully recognises the importance of funding and building research capacity in women's reproductive health, detailing how NIHR and UKRI fund research and stating that NIHR has invested approximately £258 million over the last five years, a 55% increase. It also highlights the launch of a new £3 million Policy Research Unit.