Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to support the (a) development and (b) expansion of Women’s Health Hubs; and what steps he is taking to work with Integrated Care Boards to encourage this.

We are supporting integrated care boards (ICBs) to continue improving their delivery of women’s health hubs, in line with their responsibility to commission services that meet the needs of their local populations.

We have heard from ICBs on the positive impacts that women’s health hubs have on both women's access to care in the community and their experience. The Government is committed to encouraging ICBs to further expand the coverage of women’s health hubs and to support ICBs to use the learning from the women’s health hub pilots to improve local delivery of services to women and girls. NHS England have therefore asked ICBs to include them in their plans for 2025/26.

As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, we are committed to moving towards a neighbourhood health service, with more care delivered in local communities, to identify and address problems earlier and closer to home. Women’s health hubs are an example of this approach and can play a key role in delivering the Government’s manifesto commitments on tackling long NHS waiting lists, as well as shifting care into the community.

The 2022 Women’s Health Strategy identified many important issues which remain valid, so we now need to align the strategy with the 10-Year Health Plan and identify areas where we need to go further.

We know that women deserve better, which is why we are updating the Women’s Health Strategy, to assess the progress that has been made so far and to continue progressing delivery.