Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to increase (a) awareness among and (b) training for primary healthcare professionals of menstrual health conditions.

The Women’s Health Strategy sets out our ambitions for all healthcare professionals to be well informed about women’s health and supported to provide women with the best care possible. We are investing £25 million in women’s health hubs to improve women’s access to essential services for menstrual problems and more.

Women’s health is a core competency for general practitioners (GPs) and is included in the Royal College of General Practitioners’ (RCGP) curriculum for trainee GPs. The RCGP has developed a ‘Women’s Health Library’, drawing together educational resources and guidelines on women’s health, which is regularly updated so primary healthcare professionals have the most up-to-date information for their patients.

Additionally, the General Medical Council will introduce the Medical Licensing Assessment from the academic year 2024/2025, including several women’s health-related topics such as menstrual problems, encouraging a better understanding of menstrual health problems for doctors starting their careers.

NHS England recently published a decision support tool for managing heavy periods, which is available at the following link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/decision-support-tool-making-a-decision-about-managing-heavy-periods/

This tool can be used by patients to prepare for their appointment and during their appointment with a healthcare professional.