Half of women in the UK believe their health is treated as second-class by the NHS. But this isn’t just costing them; it’s costing our economy. New polling commissioned by the Create Health Foundation shows that millions of women are being failed by our health service, leading to missed work and billions in losses for our economy. It’s time we acknowledge the price of neglecting women’s health.
The numbers are staggering. Almost one in three women we polled had experienced a gynaecological or obstetric condition that prevented them from working. Of those women, over 40% were off for more than three months. And the economic impact of this is clear: our recent report in partnership with the NHS Confederation estimates that women taking time off work due to certain gynaecological conditions alone costs the UK £11 billion a year.
For too long, women’s health has been deprioritised in the UK. As a result, we have a healthcare system that gives women inadequate diagnosis, treatment, and support. It’s no surprise that so many women are having to take time off work when one in five women feel that they cannot access the NHS when they need it – and when they do, many report negative experiences. 20% say their problems weren’t taken seriously – which rises to one in three amongst women aged 35-49. And of the estimated 9 million women in the UK who experience pain impacting their everyday life, more than 40% say the NHS does not provide them with adequate pain management.
We need a rethink of strategy. Under the last government, women’s health was siloed into the Department of Health. But now we need a cross-departmental strategy that unlocks funding from a variety of sources, because women’s health is also relevant to work and pensions, education, and science, innovation and technology.
Labour committed in its manifesto to ‘prioritise women’s health as we reform the NHS’, and promised to close the shocking maternal mortality gap that means black and Asian women are far more likely to die in childbirth than white women. To achieve this mission, they must both allocate the funding that’s needed, and go further with the Employment Rights Bill.
There’s a clear economic case for investing in women’s health. For every £1 invested, the UK could see an £11 return, according to our recent report. Unlike large-scale infrastructure projects, which take years to deliver returns, women’s health offers immediate and significant improvements to both economic productivity and quality of life. This investment in women’s health needs to be for today and for tomorrow.
For today, we need proper, sustained funding for the Women’s Health Strategy, women’s health hubs and services, so waiting lists come down and women receive the care that they deserve now. For tomorrow, we need to increase funding for research into women’s health conditions, which are outrageously under-researched. Only two percent of public research funding goes towards investigating reproductive conditions, for example. The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) should commit to a year-on-year increase of 1 percent of overall funding which they commit to ‘reproductive conditions and childbirth’. More research would allow us to improve treatments and shorten the time it takes to diagnose conditions.
And because we know the impact that this has on women in the workplace, we also need workplace policies that are open and supportive of women’s health. The government’s inclusion in the Employment Rights Bill of support for women going through the menopause is a step in the right direction. But we need to go further, acknowledging and mitigating the impact of other health conditions on women’s ability to work. We must enable women to remain in work and feel supported rather than taking time off or leaving their jobs entirely.
We are at a crossroads. The data shows that women’s health has been neglected for far too long, and the consequences are both morally unjust and economically damaging. The new government has an opportunity to change course, prioritising the health and dignity of 51% of the population. By investing in women’s health services, they can unlock economic prosperity, improve the quality of healthcare, and create a system that women can trust.
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