Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his announcement in July 2023 of £595,000 funding per Integrated Care System to support the expansion of Women’s Health Hubs, what steps his Department is taking to support Integrated Care Boards to determine how that funding is allocated to develop services that (a) best meet population needs and (b) reduce health inequalities.

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning services that meet the health needs of their local population. We have published resources to support ICBs as they work with other system partners to implement the funding, including a core specification, and cost benefit analysis. These are available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/womens-health-hubs

The Women’s Health Ambassador for England has hosted 4 webinars over the summer to support local systems as they develop their plans. These webinars had a specific focus on how existing hubs are meeting population needs and reducing health inequalities.

We are developing further resources of a commissioning specification and a toolkit for virtual group consultations and virtual engagement events in women’s health hubs. ICBs have been asked to submit an initial return by 30 September 2023, setting out where their hub will be, what services it plans to offer, staffing model, and other information. This will enable the Department and NHS England to understand how systems are using the funding to meet population needs and reduce health inequalities. The Department and NHS England are in regular contact with systems to answer any questions and are holding drop-in sessions in September to support with completing the reporting template.