Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the inequalities affecting women identified in the report by Warwick University and Cysters, Women’s reproductive health in the West Midlands, published in March.

We were dismayed to read the findings of this report, which highlights the deep inequalities faced in accessing gynaecological care by women in the West Midlands. The Government agrees with the conclusion of the report that every woman deserves access to timely and high-quality care. That is why we will not accept these kinds of disparities as inevitable. Our ambition is a fairer Britain, where people live well for longer and spend less time in ill health, and where women, whatever their background, can rely on high-quality care.

We are shifting the centre of gravity of care from hospitals to communities, with neighbourhood services designed around local need.

Earlier this month, we published a Neighbourhood Health Framework setting out three reform agendas for integrated care boards (ICBs), local authorities, and civil society to deliver the aims of neighbourhood health: to improve services for people who need routine healthcare; to improve proactive care including maintaining and developing access to women's health services; and to deliver better alternatives to hospital care.

The framework provides clarity and consistency, supporting joined-up partnership between ICBs and local authorities, working together to develop locally led neighbourhood health plans.

We have made strong progress in turning the commitments in the last administration’s Women's Health Strategy into tangible action. Our renewed strategy will address gaps from the 2022 strategy, and go further to create a system that listens to women and tackles health inequalities across England.

Renewing the strategy will help identify and remove enduring barriers to high-quality care across England, such as long waits for diagnosis, and will ensure that professionals listen and respond to women’s needs.