Women’s health is a priority despite scrapping of key pledge, says NHS chief

There is a “big cultural challenge” in the NHS and the service “doesn’t always have the needs of women at its heart”, the head of the service has admitted.

But Amanda Pritchard, chief executive of NHS England, insisted that women’s health is a “priority” for the health service in England.

It comes as health leaders faced criticism over plans to scrap a number of targets for the health service – including a pledge over women’s health.

The NHS’ annual planning guidance, which sets out the key priorities for hospitals and community services, is due to be published on Thursday.

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Reports suggest that one of the 2024-25 pledges, which called for a women’s health hub to be established in each region, will not be renewed in the 2025-26 guidance.

But the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) has implored health leaders to reconsider, saying that the hubs – which have been established in 39 out of 42 local health regions – have had a “transformational impact”.

In a letter to Health Secretary Wes Streeting, RCOG said: “If the Government fails to recommit to women’s health hubs, we fear this will result in a deterioration in women’s health and services, an exacerbation of health inequalities and a missed opportunity to support economic growth.”

MPs were told that certain ring-fenced funding would be scrapped in the planning guidance to give local health leaders more freedom to decide how to deliver care.

Speaking at Health and Social Care Committee, Ms Pritchard said: “So, there is a bit of tension here because, quite understandably, there is a desire to see particular things that people care about written into national guidance, and often to see ring-fenced funding around that.

“We are trying to get the right balance now, setting some things out that are national must-do’s (and) reducing the amount of ring fences, so that local leaders have more flexibility to work out how they respond both to that national set of targets and to the things that matter the most locally.

“Just because something isn’t written in planning guidance doesn’t mean it’s not important and it doesn’t mean the work won’t happen.

“One example, because it’s been in the media in the last couple of days, women’s health … women’s health is a priority for the Government. It is a priority for the NHS.”

She added: “We’re not going to stop caring about all these things or stop working on them, whether or not there is something explicit written in planning guidance.”

The health chief was asked about a report by the Women and Equalities Committee which highlighted that women are facing “medical misogyny” and it was put to her that this could indicate that ring-fencing women’s health was needed.

Ms Pritchard replied: “Can I first say I agree with you on misogyny – I think we’re really clear that there is a big cultural challenge within the NHS, and the work of the committee has been really helpful in shining a light on that.”

She said that the NHS has largely been built by men and “doesn’t always have, I think, the needs of women at its heart”.

Labour’s Paulette Hamilton quizzed Ms Pritchard on winter pressures in the NHS, comparing it as to the Titanic hitting the iceberg “knowing it was there and I couldn’t see what was being done to avoid it”.

Ms Pritchard said that the service is under an “extraordinary level of pressure”.

She called on the Government to improve vaccination coverage, saying that winter viruses have caused a “struggle” for the service; and for “support for social care” which would help free up beds in hospitals.

Meanwhile, Ms Pritchard responded to a Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report which concluded that NHS and Department of Health officials are complacent and “out of ideas” when it comes to transforming the health service for patients.

“We will be … formally responding to the PAC on the factual inaccuracies within their report,” Ms Pritchard said.

“I would like to say NHS England is absolutely not complacent about productivity, and it is completely wrong to suggest otherwise.

“There is no shortage of fresh thinking in the NHS.”

NHS England chief financial officer, Julian Kelly, was asked how much of the £10.6 billion funding increase will be taken up with increasing costs.

He said if the staff pay settlement is in line with evidence to the Pay Review Body of a 2.8% pay settlement, that would cost about £3.8bn, while inflation will take £1.9 billion pounds and the cost of new treatments already in the pipeline about £0.5bn.

A new funding settlement for GPs is about £0.8bn, plus there are other costs, he said.

“So, that is where this year, the real focus has been on us working out what we reprioritise within NHS England, what we can do in terms of reducing our own costs, plus, clearly, there is not a lot of new investment that will be going into new transformation programmes because we can’t afford it.”

He told MPs that there would be a focus on productivity.