Organisations call for accelerated action on women’s health

On the eve of International Women’s Day, FICM is joining the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and 48 other organisations to call for concrete commitment to ensure women receive the quality healthcare they need throughout their lives, in an open letter to the UK government. 

We understand that this government is operating in a challenging fiscal context and that difficult decisions must be made, however investment in women is investment in society as a whole - and we urge the UK government to take women’s health in to account when considering the upcoming Spending Review, and the 10-Year Health Plan to follow.

Key calls for action outlined in the open letter include: 

• A commitment to long-term, sustained funding to address the complex systemic issues driving gynaecology waiting list growth.
• Investment in maternity workforce recruitment, retention and training time, including for perinatal mental health services.
• Continued support for women’s health hubs to improve women’s experience of care, increase the services they can access in the community and improve efficiency across the system, ultimately cutting elective waiting lists.
• Measures to address stark inequalities in health outcomes, including maternal deaths, stillbirth and premature births, and gynaecological cancers diagnosis and treatment.
• Visible and coordinated connections across UK government departments to achieve sustainable and long-term improvements to the wider factors shaping women’s health.

Click here to read and share the letter and follow the hashtag #PrioritiseWomensHealth for more.