Women’s Health Strategy

Robbie Moore Excerpts

Monday 8th March 2021 Commons Chamber

[Ms Dorries]

I thank the hon. Lady for her question; I was waiting for it as I knew she would be contributing today. We have had private conversations about this issue, and I want to reassure her. I hope she noticed that some of the £79 million I announced last week will be going towards dealing with eating disorders and the recent surge in referrals to mental health services. She is right to say that there is lots of evidence, and we are aware of what happens with eating disorders and how they develop, and we work with charities, as she well knows. We would still like those women to respond to this call to evidence.

Many women struggle to get anyone to listen or understand that they have an eating disorder. We struggle to identify them early enough or pick up such things. We still need to gather that evidence, because it is at certain points of contact that healthcare professionals do not recognise or realise that they are dealing with an eating disorder. That is the kind of thing that we think we could get fresh evidence about from women by them clicking on the link and letting us know, either via their phone or their laptop. The hon. Lady has a huge number of contacts, so I urge her to inform them and ask them to contribute to the call for evidence.

[Robbie Moore (Keighley) (Con)]

Keighley has fantastic women’s mental health charities such as Roshni Gar, which provides culturally appropriate responsive services for south Asian women experiencing mental health issues, and Wellbeing Women Talk & Thrive, which does an excellent job. Will my right hon. Friend confirm that the forthcoming women’s health strategy will contain measures to level up access to mental health services for women and girls across England, so that no matter where they come from, they can always access the mental health support that they need?

[Ms Dorries]

Parity between physical health and mental health is a priority in the Department for Health and Social Care. This is about breaking down taboos and stigmas. That is why we have invested £2.3 billion, year on year, into mental health and into the development of a long-term plan. That is why we had another £500 million allocated at the spending review a few weeks ago. That is why we allocated £79 million of that on Friday to dealing with the very issues my hon. Friend has just raised. When we talk about a call for evidence for a women’s health strategy, I hope it is understood that we are talking about both physical health and mental health. I thank my hon. Friend for his question; it is important that such issues are raised as often as possible.