Health Services: Females

(asked on 26th May 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of the covid-19 outbreak on the (a) access to and (b) quality of menstrual health services; what plans his Department has to further improve menstrual health services in the health system beyond the covid-19 outbreak; and if he will make a statement.


Answered by
Nadine Dorries Portrait
Nadine Dorries
This question was answered on 7th June 2021

Menstrual health services are predominantly provided by general practitioners (GPs). GP practices have remained open throughout the pandemic, offering face to face appointments to those who need them as well as telephone and online consultations. To help expand general practice capacity, an additional £270 million of funding was made available from November 2020 until September 2021 to ensure GPs and their teams can continue to support all patients.

No assessment has been made on the quality of menstrual health services during the covid-19 outbreak, as this information is not held centrally by NHS England.

The Government are embarking on the first Women’s Health Strategy for England. To ensure the Women’s Health Strategy reflects what women identify as priorities, the government launched a 14 week call for evidence which will run until 13 June 2021 to gather women’s experiences and views regarding their health and care. All evidence regarding menstrual health services will be carefully considered as part of this ongoing work.

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