Torbay’s MP, Kevin Foster, has welcomed the announcement of new measures to support the health and wellbeing of women and girls, includes taking action to support those who have experienced the tragedy of baby loss.
Hundreds of thousands of women have already directly benefited from the strategy and the Government is building on its success by launching a women’s health area on the NHS website. Bringing together over 100 topics on women’s health, the new dedicated area will sit alongside a brand new Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) hub on the website, a page dedicated to adenomyosis and a separate space with important guidance on periods.
Enhancing the NHS website will enable women and girls of all ages to easily access important information about their health by bringing together a range of new and existing content in one place. It also will provide information for women at every stage of their lives on a range of health issues including periods, gynaecological conditions, fertility, pregnancy, heart health and cancers.
The newly launched hub for HRT will help women manage menopausal symptoms and make it easier for them to find information on different types of HRT and help decide which medicine is best suited for them.
This builds on the support offered by the NHS HRT Prescription Payment Certificate lanched in April this year. Since the launch, more than 300,000 certificates for HRT have already been purchased, with the new certificates saving the average person around £30 for a year’s supply. This means women could potentially save around £9 million in prescription charges this year.
Acknowledging the work of BBC presenter Naga Munchetty and patient groups to raise awareness of the condition, the Government have also ensured the NHS website now contains a page on the debilitating condition adenomyosis – including information about symptoms and the treatment currently available.
We have also invested £53 million into the National Institute for Health and Care Research programmes to support women’s health – including research on male violence against women and girls, and a call for further research into testosterone as a treatment for menopause symptoms.
Additional measures being announced this week include:
- A ‘hackathon’ will take place this September, where clinicians and data scientists will work to develop an AI tool that can analyse vast amounts of data, helping to identify any early risks and trends in maternity units.
- £25 million will be distributed among areas across England to create women’s health hubs, with each Integrated Care Board set to receive £595,000 to meet local women’s health and wellbeing needs.
- A new tool has been launched on gov.uk allowing people to look up information about NHS-funded IVF treatment in their area – giving greater transparency on IVF supply.
- The Women’s Health Ambassador for England, Professor Dame Lesley Regan, has formed a new network of Women’s Health Champions – made up of senior leaders from every local care system – to drive forward wider work to improve women’s health.
The Government is also taking steps to support the wellbeing of women experiencing the heartbreak of baby loss.
This includes issuing a full response to the findings published by the independent Pregnancy Loss Review into the care and support available to women when baby loss occurs before 24 weeks gestation.
As a first step, our published response sets out a commitment to introduce voluntary certificates for parents who have experienced the heartbreak of pre-24-week pregnancy loss to be rolled-out this October during Baby Loss Awareness Week. These certificates will serve as a document that acknowledges pregnancy loss and help bereaved parents with the unimaginable pain and grieving process.
Over this summer, the certificate will be trialled with 1,000 bereaved families, who will be able to advise us on the application process and receive a certificate themselves.
Extensive work will also begin to explore how women who have experienced loss can safely and appropriately store fetal tissue, get 24/7 access to care and those experiencing the devastation of multiple miscarriages receive the treatment and testing they need.
Kevin Foster MP, Member of Parliament for Torbay, said:
“Losing a baby is one of the hardest and most upsetting moments in life for any couple. Being able to have this recognised officially is something many have said would provide some comfort to them, so I welcome the moves to introduce voluntary certificates, alongside wide work to support women who experience this loss.”
