New NHS Women's Health Strategy - Wes Streeting statement about medical misogyny

[AngleofRepose]

NHS 'failing women and girls' and has 'appalling culture of medical misogyny', health secretary says | UK News | Sky News

"The health secretary has accused the NHS of having an "appalling culture of medical misogyny" as he set out a range of measures in a renewed Women's Health Strategy."

I suspect only due to the upcoming elections, but Wes Streeting has made a statement about medical misogyny. After the Scottish Labour announcement about biological sex, etc. , and BP's statement about the EHRC guidance, I'm hoping there's been a shift somewhere (but not holding my breath). As others have said here, I want to see actions, not words. Are we starting to see the dots being joined up at Labour, or is this still just political posturing?

I am also irritated by the fact that he has set the NHS 117 action points! When I started doing consultancy work for HE, it became very clear very quickly that governing bodies could really only deal with 10-15 action points at a time. Giving the NHS 117 actions all at once will just give them the excuse to continually state "yes, this is all very important, and we are working diligently to meet every target the government has set." None of these will be actioned.

(link is from Sky News)

The women's health strategy needs to very clearly state what a woman is. The women's health hub near me is "for those who identify as women" and the associated funding is open to groups working with "those identifying as women" so it's a women's health hub also open to men then

Yes, very good point! Without that, the entire strategy will be meaningless. Medical misogyny is an important issue for me, and I'm looking for any signs that things are moving in the right direction. Not convinced that this strategy is it, and future governments will probably bin it, but it's something, perhaps? Wes Streeting seems to me to be the kind of person who would normally "do the right thing " if he weren't a politician. But he is, therefore I don't trust a single thing he says. Again, I want action, not words.

The strategy is definitely A Good Thing but without women being properly defined in the document (and yes it's madness it should have to be) then as is local be me it'll end up being meaningless

also it's utter madness for Streeting to think that at a time when ICBs who commission and purchase health services are in the middle of a massive restructure and about 2/3 of ppl are losing they're jobs, that anyone has the bandwidth to focus on this :/

Call me suspicious but is this the government throwing us a bone, while Philipson waters down the EHRC guidance?

Oh, we need to see the guidance yesterday!
(and prepare for more legal action if necessary)

I have heard 3 news outlets lead on this story by saying one of the proposals is that if women complain about a gynecological service this would lead in a cut in funding to that service.

I haven't looked at the actual statement but it was the lead in the news reports and I cant understand the logic.

Has anyone heard about this?

The Government has unveiled its renewed Women’s Health Strategy for England, signalling a shift towards system-wide reform in how women access, experience, and influence healthcare.

At the heart of the strategy is a new accountability model, with plans to link women’s lived experience directly to provider funding. Under a proposed trial, patient feedback could determine whether services face financial consequences – a move designed to address long-standing concerns that women’s symptoms and pain have too often been dismissed.

Alongside this, a single referral pathway will be introduced to streamline access to care, supported by expanded digital services and community provision. The aim is to reduce delays in diagnosis and treatment, particularly for conditions such as endometriosis and fibroids, where waiting times remain significant.

Full article with breakdown at https://politicsuk.com/news/renewed-womens-health-strategy-analysis/

There is no point in him making vaguely caring-about-women noises, while the guidance has been sat on for a year, women have been totally abandoned on this front for political expedience (and institutional misogyny) and the message coming from government is that they believe it's wrong and unpleasant to permit women as a sex class to exist and have anything at all for themselves.