Is women’s healthcare still underfunded in the UK?
It’s significantly underfunded. In 2021, a House of Lords inquiry found that the UK has the worst gender health gap (which measures prevalence of disease, health outcomes and access to healthcare) in the G20. The UK government did not even publish a women’s health strategy until 2022.
In her book ‘Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men’, Caroline Criado Perez found that healthcare systems across the world are: “systemically discriminating against women, leaving them chronically misunderstood, mistreated and misdiagnosed.”
Researchers at Deloitte found that working women spend £1.5 billion more than men on healthcare per year in the UK.
According to the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, women’s healthcare services are typically fragmented and difficult to access, and women often struggle to access high quality health information or even get their basic healthcare needs met. Gynaecology was one of the worst affected healthcare specialisms during the Covid 19 pandemic.
How does this affect women’s ability to work?
Gynaecological conditions can have a debilitating effect on women’s health, confidence, career trajectory and ability to enjoy life. Women with severe period pain miss on average 18 days of work per year, and women with endometriosis take on average more than three days off per month. One in six women aged 40-60 have considered leaving work due to a lack of support in relation to their menopause symptoms.
The NHS Confederation found that the economic cost of absenteeism due to gynaecological conditions, such as endometriosis and fibroids, is approximately £11 billion per year. Meanwhile, workforce exclusion due to menopause symptoms affects approximately 60,000 women and has a direct economic impact of £1.5 billion per annum.
What impact could additional investment in obstetrics and gynaecology have on the economy?
Research by the NHS Confederation found that government spending on women’s healthcare could bring about a return on investment of £11 for every £1 invested. This is a very high return on investment.
If £100 were invested in gynaecological healthcare for every woman in the UK, the economy would receive an additional £31.9 billion in total gross value added (GVA). This is equivalent to more than six times the amount of money Chancellor Rachel Reeves is set to ‘save’ by cutting disability benefits in her recent Spring Statement.
By way of comparison, the return on investment for general public expenditure on NHS services is estimated to be £4 for every £1 invested, and the return on investment for defence expenditure is estimated to be 50p for every £1 invested.
In other words, when our taxes are spent on fighting wars, we lose money. When our taxes are spent on NHS services we make very good money, and when our taxes are spent on women’s healthcare, we make an enormous amount of money.
Why haven’t I heard about this already?
Mysteriously (or not, depending on your perspective) the mainstream media did not report on this new data when it was published in autumn 2024.
One possible explanation is that the current and previous UK governments have such strong financial, political and ideological links to the defence industry, and relatively little interest in the advancement of women’s health and rights, that they use their substantial influence over the mainstream media to ensure that a pro-defence media narrative remains prominent.
Another factor to consider is the strong business interests supporting the defence industry, versus the relatively weak short-term financial and political incentives to advance women’s healthcare.
What is the government doing about this?
Not much. A core feature of the ten-year women’s health strategy (2022) was the introduction of at least one specialist women’s health hub in every Integrated Care Board area (there are 42 of these in England) by the end of 2024.
Sadly this did not happen, and the government is now considering withdrawing financial support for women’s health hubs, in a move the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology describes as “self-defeating”.
Living under Patriarchy 