Comment by Lesley Regan
Working together to break down barriers for ‘women’s problems’
Women make up 51% of the UK population and yet they are currently experiencing significant health inequalities. The cuts in women’s healthcare funding combined with the complexity and fragmented commissioning in England between local government, Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) and NHS England – has had serious repercussions on the quality of service provision for women, muddling treatment pathways and placing unnecessary barriers in access to treatment for women.
Menstrual health plays an important role in women’s lives with poor health care impacting on her quality of life. Fragmentation of commissioning has led to wide variation in the quality and delivery of services. The Menstrual Health Coalition’s inaugural report on Heavy Menstrual Bleeding (HMB) highlighted the extent of this problem and found unacceptable variability in the availability of treatment regionally.
In addition there are issues with prioritisation of women’s health in primary care. Many respondents in our survey consider that referrals for specialist care are delayed because women’s health issues are not always considered a priority by their GP.
These findings demonstrate why joint commissioning of sexual and reproductive health is needed if we want to see an improvement in treatment pathways for our patients. The MHC supports the calls from Royal Colleges such as the Royal College of General Practitioners and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, for such an approach to women’s health commissioning. This would make access to healthcare services easier for women, improve patient experiences throughout the pathway, reduce health inequalities experienced by women, and be cost-effective for our hard pressed NHS services.
As a member of the steering committee of the MHC, I remain committed to championing improvement in the treatment pathway for women affected by menstrual health issues.
If you use Twitter you can follow Lesley on @lregan7 and The Menstrual Health Coalition on @MH_Coalition
Professor Dame Lesley Regan
Past President of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
Member of the Menstrual Health Coalition's Steering Committee