A health minister claimed it is “fake news” to suggest women’s health hubs face being closed or cut by the Government.
Concerns were raised about why a pledge to establish a hub in each region has not been renewed in 2025/26 NHS planning guidance, which led to suggestions of a “downgrading” of women in the health service.
Labour frontbencher Karin Smyth said the 2024/25 objective had been met in 39 out of 42 areas in England and insisted they are “staying” despite the absence of the target.
The hubs are designed to bring together healthcare professionals and existing services to provide integrated women’s health services in the community.
Shadow minister for women Mims Davies used an urgent question in the House of Commons to highlight concerns that 600,000 women on waiting lists in England could be affected if the requirement for each region to have a hub was removed.
Ms Smyth told the House: “There was a target in last year’s planning guidance to roll out pilot women’s health hubs across the country by last December.
“Today there are at least 80 hubs and at least nine out of every 10 integrated care systems has an open women’s health hub.
“Let me correct some fake news: we are not closing them, we are not cutting them. The target to roll them out was in last year’s planning guidance, it was achieved in 93% of integrated care systems and that is why the target is not repeated in this year’s – it has been met in 39 out of 42 areas.
“Today we have slimmed down the number of targets for the NHS to focus on fixing the fundamentals, the system they (the Conservatives) broke. We’re instructing the NHS to prioritise cutting waiting times for operations, A&E and ambulances, making it easier to see a GP or a dentist and improving the mental health of the nation.”
Liberal Democrat MP Christine Jardine (Edinburgh West) said women having trouble accessing services would be concerned if the “vital” hub facilities were lost.
She said: “They will see the Government’s promises of never again as sounding hollow. So what will the Government do to reassure all the women who are concerned about this move?”
Ms Smyth said the UK Government is “committed” to the women’s health strategy and the hubs exist in “different forms with different levels of services”.
She said: “We want to make sure that the systems reflect their local population needs, that’s an entirely proper way to go about this.
“So, as I said earlier, unusually, a lot of these hubs as pilots were rolled out under the previous administration.
“We actually think that they’re doing a good job in most areas, not everywhere, we want to learn from the pilots that are out there, so our commitment is absolutely to women.
“That’s why gynaecology waiting lists are particularly targeted because we had 600,000 women on them, so women should feel really assured about the support that this Government is giving to them and their health, to prioritise their health.
“And the women’s health hubs – very keen to learn more about them, they will be different in different places because there are different populations, that is entirely in keeping with the direction of travel of this Government.”
Conservative former minister Richard Holden said Ms Smyth appeared to be putting forward a “slightly confused” case.
He said: “On the one side women’s health hubs seem to be working on the whole and there’s lots of them so why remove the target for everybody to have them if we’re already 90% there?
“The second point, a lot of them seem to be doing good work and best practice is clearly emerging from within the women’s health hubs so why cancel the target for the programme rather than spread that good practice throughout the system?”
He added: “Why remove the targets as well specifically relating to women from the Government’s agenda going forward, as it does feel to many women and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists that this is downgrading the role that women are getting within the NHS.”
Ms Smyth replied: “Targets in the NHS haven’t been met since 2015 under his Government’s watch. Actually on this, it has been met – there’s only three places in the country that don’t have a hub. That’s why there’s no target for them because it’s already been met.
“The issue now is to look at the outcomes from those hubs to see how they’re performing. We think, the system thinks they do a good job – that’s why they’re staying, that’s why we’re committed to them, that’s why we want to learn from them.”
