The RCOG has identified nine key questions to evaluate whether the UK Government’s 10-Year Health Plan delivers meaningful improvements in women’s health.
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The opportunity for change
The RCOG welcomes the UK Government’s ambitions to transform the NHS and build a health service fit for the future. The 10-Year Health Plan offers an important opportunity to bring everyone together across health and care – both those who use services and those who work across services – to set in motion actions that will improve care for everyone, wherever they live.
It is an opportunity to deliver better outcomes for patients, ensure our health system is designed more equitably, and is prepared for the future.
Our engagement with the Government
The College has engaged with the government to ensure the views of women and people with lived experience, the RCOG membership, and professionals working across women’s health are represented in discussions to develop the 10-Year Health Plan.
What the plan must include
In March, we published our ‘manifesto’, setting out the top priorities we have been calling for throughout the process to ensure the 10-Year Health Plan improves women’s health.
We emphasised that the 10 Year Health Plan must include focused actions on prioritising women’s health, workforce and estates, women’s health hubs, gynaecology waiting times, maternity care and prevention. These areas of focus must be the guiding principles of what the 10 Year Health Plan delivers for women.
Underpinned by these priorities, we believe that the Plan must also include:
- A clear roadmap of what tangible actions must be taken across these priority areas – by when, by who – to achieve better health for all women over the next 10 years and beyond.
- Ambitious targets to improve women’s health that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound, backed up by sufficient and sustainable funding so that the system has the capacity and resource to deliver them.
- Clear commitments to regularly review the Plan and transparent governance arrangements, which include proactive engagement with the public and those using services.
How we will evaluate the Plan
When reviewing the 10-Year Health Plan, the RCOG will therefore be asking the following questions, to ensure it delivers what it must for women:
1. Delivering improved outcomes for women
Has the Plan committed to efficient but essential data collection and analysis to inform the design of equitable and effective services, support high quality research and deliver robust workforce planning?
2. Supporting a diverse and inclusive workforce
Does the plan set out what actions will be taken to train, retain and support the O&G workforce, and make clear the role of other strategies, including the three year delivery plan for maternity and neonatal services, Long Term Workforce Plan and Women’s Health Strategy?
3. Women at the heart of co-production
Does the plan set out how it will meaningfully engage women and people with lived experience throughout the course of the 10 Year Health Plan, ensuring they have a clear role in every aspect of design, implementation and reviewing its progress?
4. Addressing health inequalities
Does the plan set out strong, cross-government targets to end inequalities across women’s health, so that all women in the UK can better access services and have better experiences of care?
5. Driving collaboration to enable prevention of poor health
Does the plan provide a clear action plan for how the government, at national and local levels, can collaborate better to act on the pre-determinants of health and support prevention?
6. Transforming care
Does the plan commit to supporting the implementation of women’s health hubs so that all women can access vital care closer to home and across their life course?
7. Resolving commissioning
Does the plan set out how it will enable joined up commissioning in women’s health?
8. Improving insight
Has the plan committed to efficient but essential data collection and analysis to inform the design of equitable and effective services, support high quality research and deliver robust workforce planning?
9. Driving research and innovation
Has the plan committed to investing in research and development into women’s health, especially given women’s health conditions are less researched and understood?