👩‍⚕️ Women’s Health Strategy

• The Government has inherited a challenging situation with long waiting lists for women’s health services, particularly gynaecology, where nearly 600,000 women were waiting for care.

• A key focus is to reduce gynaecology waiting times from 18 months to 18 weeks through an elective reform plan, which includes using spare capacity in the private sector to treat women faster.

• The Government is committed to improving maternity care and reducing inequalities, including training more midwives and setting targets to close the maternal mortality gap for black and Asian women.

• Women’s health hubs, which provide integrated community services, have been successfully rolled out in 93% of integrated care systems, achieving last year’s target.

• The NHS has streamlined its targets to focus on core priorities like reducing waiting times for operations, improving A&E and ambulance services, and enhancing GP and dental access.

• There are concerns about long waits affecting women’s health, particularly for conditions like endometriosis, and the need for better medical education and research focused on women’s issues.

• The Government plans to continue supporting women’s health initiatives, including the women’s health strategy and addressing specific issues like pre-eclampsia and mental health support for young women.

• Some Members of Parliament expressed disappointment over the perceived removal of women’s health targets from the NHS guidance, though the Government insists on its commitment to women’s health.

• The Government aims to work across the UK, including with Northern Ireland, to improve women’s health services and share best practices.

The session displays a moderate level of disagreement, primarily centered around the implementation and future of the women’s health strategy, specifically regarding women’s health hubs and the setting of health targets. While there are clear differences in opinion and some contention, the disagreements are not highly confrontational or personally targeted, resulting in a middle ground rating of 3.

Examples of disagreements include: 1. Mims Davies challenges the current government’s approach to women’s health, accusing them of neglecting women’s needs and potentially dropping important targets. She specifically questions whether the Minister will confirm or deny the dropping of targets and seeks assurances on the ongoing women’s health strategy from 2022.

1. Karin Smyth, the Minister, counters by defending the current initiatives and achievements, emphasizing that targets related to women’s health hubs have already been met and suggesting that the focus now is on learning and improving outcomes, not on regressing.

2. Sarah Owen and Dr Danny Chambers highlight the ongoing issues with women’s health, including long waiting lists and the safety of maternity services, pressing the Minister for action and assurances, indicating dissatisfaction with the current state and progress.

3. Richard Holden voices concern over the potential removal of targets for women’s health hubs, suggesting this action would downgrade the importance of women’s health in the NHS. He questions the Minister’s logic and the commitment to women’s health.

4. Jerome Mayhew directly criticizes the Minister’s approach to the urgent question, stating that she has not taken the questions from the Opposition Front Bench seriously and implying a lack of commitment to the urgency of the issue.

5. Victoria Atkins raises a point of order regarding the Minister’s lateness, suggesting a lack of respect and preparedness in addressing such an important topic.

Despite these disagreements and criticisms, the Minister remains focused on explaining the current government’s plans and achievements, which indicates a willingness to engage with the issues but also highlights the ongoing dissatisfaction and disagreement from the opposition and other members about the direction and speed of these initiatives.