England’s Renewed Women’s Health Strategy Puts Patient Voice at the Centre of Care
The government published the renewed Women’s Health Strategy for England on 15 April 2026, setting out a ten-year programme to address deep-rooted failures in how the NHS identifies, diagnoses, and treats conditions affecting women. Aligned with the 10 Year Health Plan, the strategy places patient voice at its centre and takes direct aim at what Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting described as “medical misogyny,” pledging structural reforms to gynaecological care, pain management, menstrual health, and reproductive services that advocates have been calling for over many years.
The Scale of the Problem
The renewed Women’s Health Strategy arrives against a backdrop of documented and widespread systemic failure. More than 565,000 women in England are currently waiting for gynaecological care. Endometriosis, a condition affecting an estimated 1.5 million women in the UK, currently takes an average of nine years and four months to diagnose from the onset of symptoms, a figure that rises to eleven years for women from diverse ethnic communities. These numbers have not improved in a decade. Women presenting with conditions including fibroids, polycystic ovary syndrome, and menopause-related symptoms have long reported being dismissed, undertreated, or passed between services without reaching an appropriate diagnosis.
The strategy also confronts inequalities in pain management. Women undergoing invasive gynaecological procedures, including intrauterine device fittings and hysteroscopies, have consistently reported receiving inadequate pain relief. This has been identified not merely as a failure of clinical practice but as a systemic reflection of longstanding attitudes that minimise women’s experience of pain.
Wes Streeting was direct in his assessment of the scale of the problem.
“Whether it’s being passed from one appointment to another for conditions like endometriosis and fibroids, or a lack of proper pain relief during invasive procedures, through to having to navigate symptoms for years before receiving a diagnosis, it’s clear the system is failing women,” he said. “Women’s voices must be central to delivering effective, respectful and empathetic care. We need to hit medical misogyny where it hurts, the wallet.”
Accountability Through Patient Feedback
One of the most structurally novel elements of the renewed Women’s Health Strategy is a proposed trial mechanism linking women’s feedback directly to provider funding. Under the pilot, women will be asked whether, based on their experience of care, money should be withheld from providers and redirected towards targeted improvements. This represents a significant departure from previous patient experience frameworks, moving from consultation to consequence, and is designed to ensure that healthcare providers are held financially accountable for how well they listen to and act upon women’s concerns.
This approach sits alongside the establishment of a new Women’s Voices Partnership, which will bring together organisations representing women to inform future policy and decision-making at a national level.
Gynaecological Pathways and Waiting Lists
The strategy sets out reforms to streamline gynaecological care and reduce the extensive waiting lists that have accumulated across the system. A single referral point will direct women to the right professional at first contact, removing the cycle of repeated appointments and misdirected referrals that have characterised the experience of many patients. Community diagnostic centres offering blood tests and MRIs will be expanded to bring services closer to where women live, and women’s health hubs will be embedded within neighbourhood health services to reduce dependence on hospital-based gynaecology outpatient settings.
Clinical pathways for heavy periods, urogynaecology, and menopause will be redesigned to speed up diagnosis and treatment across the board. A specialist centre in each region will be funded to pilot group-based approaches to care, helping women understand and manage their conditions more effectively. NHS Online will provide additional digital support for women with menstrual and menopausal symptoms.
Gynaecology waiting lists have already fallen by more than 30,000 since June 2024, and the government has pointed to record NHS funding of £26 billion as the foundation for sustained improvement. However, clinical leaders and patient organisations have been clear that the pace of progress must accelerate.
Dr Alison Wright, President of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, welcomed the strategy’s priorities while underlining what is needed for delivery.
“With over 565,000 women still waiting for gynaecological care, there is a clear opportunity to embed women’s health hubs within the neighbourhood health model,” she said. “For the strategy to achieve its full potential, it is vital that it is backed by sustained investment, clear delivery plans, and transparent progress reporting.”
Pain Relief and Jess’s Rule
The strategy includes a specific commitment to produce a new standard of care for pain management during invasive gynaecological procedures, addressing longstanding concerns about inadequate analgesia for coil fittings, hysteroscopies, and similar interventions. This has been welcomed by the College of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare, whose president Dr Zara Haider said the government had “listened to our recent campaign about pain during coil fittings.”
The strategy also builds on the earlier introduction of Jess’s Rule, a clinical safety protocol named in memory of Jessica Brady that requires GPs to reassess a patient who presents three times with the same unexplained or worsening symptoms, either seeking a peer review or making an urgent referral. The rule is designed to prevent the diagnostic delays that have been fatal for some women whose serious conditions were initially attributed to minor complaints.
Menstrual Health, Education, and Technology
A £1 million programme will be launched to improve menstrual health education in schools, equipping girls with the knowledge to recognise when their periods are abnormal and to advocate for appropriate care. This follows updates to the statutory Relationships, Sex and Health Education curriculum in July 2025, which for the first time required comprehensive teaching on menstrual health and conditions such as polycystic ovary syndrome.
The strategy also launches a £1.5 million Femtech challenge fund to accelerate the adoption of technology-driven innovations in women’s healthcare. The National Institute for Health and Care Research is simultaneously embedding new sex and gender policies across health research to ensure that findings are representative of all women, and funding research into areas of unmet need including treatments for intense period pain in young women and first-of-its-kind technology to address threatened miscarriage.
From this year, the standard NHS Health Check offered to all adults aged 40 to 74 will include a question about menopause symptoms, providing up to five million women with an easier route to advice and support.
Voices from Industry and the Voluntary Sector
The renewed Women’s Health Strategy has drawn responses from across the clinical, charitable, and industry spectrum. Emma Cox, Chief Executive of Endometriosis UK, welcomed the commitments on gynaecological pathways and menstrual health education but called for the ambition to be matched with a clear roadmap for delivery.
“Diagnosis times for endometriosis are going up not down,” she said. “Leadership and decisive actions will be vital to drive these times down.”
Dr Charmaine Griffiths, Chief Executive of the British Heart Foundation, highlighted the importance of the strategy’s emphasis on listening and acting, noting that women’s cardiac symptoms have historically been overlooked.
“The outdated idea that heart disease is a man’s disease has cost many women their health and, in some cases, their lives,” she said. “Women continue to be underrepresented in crucial heart research.”
Women’s Health Ambassador Dame Lesley Regan framed the strategy as a pivotal moment in closing not only the gap between men and women, but also the disparities within women’s health.
“This refresh is our chance to travel further and faster,” she said. “When we get it right for women, everyone benefits.”
Professor Lucy Chappell, Chief Scientific Adviser at the Department of Health and Social Care and Chief Executive of the NIHR, emphasised the role of research in ensuring the strategy delivers lasting change.
“By tackling long-standing disparities, addressing gaps in the evidence base through gender-balanced research guidelines, and making it easier for women to take part in clinical trials, we are ensuring that the research we fund benefits all women in society,” she said.
For the life sciences and pharmaceutical industries, the renewed Women’s Health Strategy represents both a recognition of longstanding gaps and a clear signal of where future investment, research, and innovation will be directed. The combination of a dedicated Femtech challenge fund, expanded NIHR research priorities, and a ten-year policy commitment provides a significant platform for industry collaboration across the full spectrum of women’s health conditions.
