Comment from the Menstrual health coalition: renewed women’s health strategy for england

The Menstrual Health Coalition welcomes the renewal of the Women’s Health Strategy, and its commitment to improving the health and wellbeing of women and girls across the country.  

We especially welcome commitments which we have been calling for, including additional funding for menstrual health education – a positive step towards improving health literacy and tackling stigma – as well as strengthened commitments on pain relief and informed consent in gynaecology procedures, such as hysteroscopies. The focus on integrated, community-based care, alongside prioritisation of heavy menstrual bleeding (HMB) and painful periods (including endometriosis and adenomyosis) in clearer clinical pathways indicates willingness to shift to more effective and joined-up services – which is much needed.

It is also vital that women and girls are equipped with the confidence, knowledge, and support they need to advocate for themselves, and to receive timely, quality care. In this regard, we welcome the Strategy’s broader emphasis on patient voice and experience.

However, these commitments must be matched by a concrete, detailed, and funded delivery plan, with structured roles and responsibilities and clear accountability mechanisms. To truly succeed in its ambitions, it needs clearly allocated and ring-fenced funding: something currently lacking.  

The scale of the challenge remains significant. There are persistent gaps in delivery and accountability, alongside a lack of focus on local implementation and workforce upskilling and recruitment: currently, delivery rests on already overstretched primary and community services, with significant restraints on time, training, and resources. Crucially, these renewed commitments must be accompanied by a sustained focus on equity to ensure that progress does not disproportionately benefit those most able to navigate the system. It is essential that existing inequalities are not further entrenched within the system, and that the voices of underrepresented and culturally diverse communities are heard. 

The Menstrual Health Coalition has consistently called for menstrual health to be recognised as a core component of women’s health policy, underpinned by clear clinical pathways, improved workforce, and integrated commissioning across primary, community, and specialist care. We will continue to work with, and across, the sector to support implementation and hold Government and the health system to account, to ensure that these commitments translate to tangible progress. 

Menstrual health care must remain at the forefront of this system reform, to ensure that women and girls across the country are able to live, thrive, and work in dignity throughout their lives.

Co-Chairs, Menstrual Health Coalition

Anne Connolly MBE

Katharine Gale

what will it take? from evidence to action in menstrual health

Today, the Menstrual Health Coalition (MHC) publishes What Will It Take? From Evidence to Action on Menstrual Health, culminating our inquiry into women’s health hubs in England and their role in improving menstrual health care.

This inquiry is based on Freedom of Information (FOI) requests submitted to all 42 Integrated Care Boards (ICBs), and highlights significant disparities in funding, service provision and access to specialist support between ICB areas, as well as variation in the implementation of women’s health hubs. These findings point to a lack of consistency and accountability across the system, with many hubs not yet meeting the Government’s ambitions.

Alongside identifying these challenges, the report examines how women’s health hubs can support improved access to menstrual health care: when adequately resourced, clearly defined, and supported by a multidisciplinary workplace. It includes case studies of existing best practice from across England, illustrating how successful models are tailored to local contexts, and where progress is already being made.

At a pivotal moment for women’s health policy, as the Government prepares to refresh the Women’s Health Strategy for England, the report sets out three clear recommendations: guaranteeing long-term funding for women’s health hubs and menstrual health services; investing in workforce training and multidisciplinary leadership across the life course; and establishing clear national standards and integrated commissioning arrangements to end the postcode lottery in access to care.

As the Government, NHS, and Integrated Care Boards look to move from ambition to action, this report provides a clear roadmap for ensuring that women’s health hubs fulfil their promise, and that menstrual health is treated as a core component of women’s healthcare.

WHAT WILL IT TAKE?: Investigating the Reality of Women’s Health Hubs in England

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.