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The Guardian World1 min read
Streeting relaunches women’s health strategy to tackle ‘medical misogyny’
TL;DR
Wes Streeting is relaunching England's women's health strategy to combat 'medical misogyny' and improve healthcare access for women. The new measures include better pain relief options and a system linking feedback to provider funding.
Key points
- Wes Streeting relaunches women's health strategy for England
- Strategy aims to combat medical misogyny
- New standard of care for pain relief in invasive procedures
- Patient feedback linked to healthcare provider funding
- Measures to reduce diagnosis wait times for conditions like endometriosis
Mentioned in this story
NHS
Wes Streeting has vowed to stop women being “gaslit” by doctors as he relaunches the women’s health strategy for England.
Speaking before 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 were offered pain relief for invasive procedures, such as fitting a contraceptive coil and hysteroscopies.
Feedback would be directly linked to provider funding via a new trial, giving women the power to withhold payment for paid-for health services if they have a poor experience.
Action would also be taken to ensure women no longer face long waits for diagnoses for conditions such as endometriosis, which can take a decade to diagnose.
A report last month by the women and equalities committee found that gynaecological and menstrual health had not been “sufficiently prioritised” by the government.
MPs said parts of the 10-year women’s health strategy, launched in 2022 by the Conservatives, were at risk of being scaled back or discontinued under wider changes to the NHS. These included initiatives that had reduced waiting lists and improved women’s access to healthcare, such as women’s health hubs.
Sarah Owen, the chair of the committee and a Labour MP, said: “This would be a disaster for girls’ and women’s menstrual healthcare, when it is in dire need of more support.
“It is a national scandal that nearly half a million women are on hospital gynaecology waiting lists when there are effective treatments that could be administered in primary and community care, if only they could access them.”
The report said women faced “medical misogyny” and were left to “suck it up” and suffer in pain for years because of a lack of awareness of women’s health conditions.
Streeting said: “[Women] have for so long been let down by a healthcare system that too often gaslights women, treating their pain as an inconvenience and their symptoms as an overreaction.”
Q&A
What is Wes Streeting's new women's health strategy aimed at?
The strategy aims to tackle 'medical misogyny' and improve healthcare access for women in England.
How will the new women's health strategy improve pain management?
It will ensure women are offered pain relief for invasive procedures like fitting contraceptive coils and hysteroscopies.
What changes will be made to address long diagnosis waits for conditions like endometriosis?
The strategy includes measures to reduce the long waits for diagnoses, which can take up to a decade.
How will patient feedback influence healthcare provider funding in the new strategy?
Feedback will be directly linked to provider funding, allowing women to withhold payment for poor health service experiences.
