Health Services: Women

The Government is committed to prioritising women’s health. This includes ensuring women get equal access to high quality elective care, and tackling long waits for gynaecology services.

The Renewed Women’s Health Strategy was published on 15 April 2026 and sets out a bold, long‑term plan to transform how the health and care system listens to, supports and delivers for women and girls across all regions in England. It puts women’s voices and choices at the centre of care, drives faster improvements in services and outcomes that matter most to women, and tackles long‑standing health inequalities across the life course. The strategy aligns with the 10-Year Health Plan to shift care into the community, harness digital innovation and strengthen prevention so women can live healthier, more fulfilled lives.

The Elective Reform Plan sets out our approach to returning by March 2029 to the National Health Service constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment across all patient groups and specialities, including women waiting for gynaecological care. Performance against this standard across gynaecology services is up 6 percentage points since July 2024. Gynaecology waiting lists are down by over 24,000 over the same period.

We are implementing measures to improve gynaecology services and improve women’s access to care. This includes innovative models of care that offer care closer to home and in the community, piloting gynaecology pathways in Community Diagnostic Centres for patients with post-menopausal bleeding, and increasing the relative funding available to incentivise providers to take on more gynaecology procedures.

We are also introducing an “online hospital”, NHS Online. From 2027, people on certain pathways, including severe menopause symptoms and menstrual problems that may be a sign of endometriosis or fibroids, will have the choice of getting the specialist care they need from their home, providing additional appointments to cut waiting times.