Women’s health hub funding to be withdrawn
There are reports that the Government is considering removing central funding for women’s health hubs despite last year's announcement of £25 million of funding to create new hubs across the each of the NHS’s 42 Integrated Care Boards. It followed NHS England’s 2024/25 priorities and operational planning guidance requiring Integrated Care Boards to establish and develop at least one women’s health hub by the end of December 2024.
As readers will be aware the Women’s Health Strategy for England published in 2022 encouraged the expansion of women’s health hubs across the country to improve access to services and improve health outcomes. For the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, women’s health hubs are seen as “an essential element in both delivering more care in the community and reducing pressure on elective services” – a key Government commitment to move care from hospitals to communities.
The RCOG has written to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to express their “deep concern” that the Government is considering removing the requirement for ICBs to fund and establish women’s health hubs, effectively ending the central support for the hub model. The RCOG highlight the “worsening and catastrophic impact gynaecology waiting times are having on patients”, so are focused on supporting the hub model for women’s health.
The College make the point that investing in hubs is not “just investing in women, it is investing in the NHS and the wider UK economy” and point out that “If the Government fails to recommit to women’s health hubs, [they] fear this result in a deterioration in women’s health and services, an exacerbation of health inequalities and a missed opportunity to support economic growth.”
Commenting on Government reports, Kate Lancaster, CEO, RCOG explains:
“The Modality GP service in Birmingham for example, has shown how it has reduced unnecessary referrals with a less than 10% onward referral rate to secondary care, and in the Tower Hamlets hub, 95% of patients are being seen within 48 hours with 100% positive feedback from patients and GPs. The financial argument for the rollout of health hubs is equally compelling, with the Government’s own cost benefit analysis of hubs finding the model to be good value for money.”
ICB clients working on the women’s health hub agenda will have to wait for further NHS England guidance.
Our content explained
Every piece of content we create is correct on the date it’s published but please don’t rely on it as legal advice. If you’d like to speak to us about your own legal requirements, please contact one of our expert lawyers.