WHAT WILL IT TAKE?: Investigating the Reality of Women’s Health Hubs in England
What Will It Take?: Investigating the Reality of Women’s Health Hubs in England
This marks the launch of our inquiry into the state of menstrual health services across the country. To take part please fill out our survey here.
In 2024, the Menstrual Health Coalition launched an inquiry to investigate whether Women’s Health Hubs (WHHs) across England were delivering on their promise to improve access to timely, integrated, and high-quality care for women and those who menstruate. These hubs are a central commitment of the Government’s Women’s Health Strategy and are intended to streamline access to services such as menstrual health, menopause support, contraception, and cervical screening.
The inquiry, conducted through a nationwide Freedom of Information (FOI) request to all 42 Integrated Care Boards (ICBs), revealed that the promise of WHHs remains largely unmet. Despite national commitments, the majority of ICBs at the end of 2024 had not established fully operational hubs offering the eight core services required under the Strategy. Many women are still navigating fragmented systems, facing long waits for diagnosis and treatment, and struggling to access the care they need close to home.
As the Government marks the third year of the Women’s Health Strategy and prepares to publish its 10 Year Health Plan, this report provides critical evidence on the implementation gap in women’s health services. It highlights what is needed to realise the ambition of equitable, accessible, and proactive care.
Heavy menstrual bleedinG - breaking Silence and Stimga
Many women struggle to manage their menstrual health for various conditions including Heavy Menstrual Bleeding (HMB). HMB can often be a condition that is ignored, or it can be a sign of an underlying condition that women are uninformed about and for which women should be offered appropriate diagnosis and treatment.
The Menstrual Health Coalition’s work has focused on pathway and best practice for HMB. Throughout engagement with stakeholders, clinicians, patient groups and patients, it became apparent that this was an area that required further scrutiny and discussion, to push menstrual health up the agenda and increase the profile of this condition with the public, parliamentarians and policy makers.
The MHC began its inquiry in mid-2019, and published the report on Tuesday 3rd March 2020.
