TO BE PUBLISHED May 2026
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£99 + VAT
Format: DOWNLOADABLE PDF
This conference will examine key priorities for women’s health in light of the Government's plan to publish a refreshed Women’s Health Strategy in 2026.
It will bring stakeholders and policymakers together to discuss what will be needed from the strategy in areas such as access to care, tackling inequalities, and advancing innovation in treatment. Delegates will consider next steps in the context of integration of women’s health into broader NHS reform, including the 10 Year Health Plan, alongside assessment of progress and remaining challenges following the 2022 Women’s Health Strategy for England.
Strategy
The planned agenda will examine practical options for improving pathways and experience of care. Areas for discussion include priorities for gender-sensitive training so women’s symptoms are recognised and acted on consistently, alongside approaches for raising awareness and reducing potential stigma.
Maternity
In light of the National Maternity and Neonatal Investigation led by Baroness Amos, attendees will consider priorities for improving maternity care quality and safety, including communication and information-sharing that supports informed choice, and approaches to reducing diagnostic and treatment delays, particularly across gynaecological and mental health services, and access to community-based support.
Women’s health models
Further planned sessions will consider what is needed to sustain and coordinate women’s health models across the NHS, including women’s health hubs and the potential role of neighbourhood health centres in delivery, alongside funding and workforce priorities within integrated care systems.
Inequalities
Next steps for addressing health inequalities will be assessed, including regional and ethnic disparities and the use of data to inform personalised care, as well as priorities for prevention and early intervention, including improving screening uptake and partnership working with VCSE groups.
Digital innovation & evidencing
We also expect the way forward for digital tools and research to be considered, including accessibility of information, women’s involvement in design, addressing concerns over gender bias in AI-driven tools, and improving evidence and treatment development for female-specific conditions such as endometriosis.
Overview of areas for discussion
- Women’s Health Strategy priorities:
- alignment with key shifts set out in the 10 Year Health Plan - structures to support long-term coordination and integration of women’s health care models
- current provision of services through women’s health hubs - options for neighbourhood health centres in service delivery - ensuring sustainable funding going forward
- the role of integrated care systems in meeting both standardised core specifications and specific local needs
- care pathways:
- strategies for ensuring that women feel listened to when sharing symptoms and concerns, including medical training priorities
- resources needed to support community care services to bring down waiting lists
- education and public awareness:
- awareness and understanding of women’s health conditions, including reproductive health - strategies and effective practice for tackling stigma - relationships, sex and health education
- improving access to clear information for both women who access services and healthcare professionals
- research:
- strategies for incentivising and advancing R&D and treatment development for female-specific conditions, such as endometriosis
- approaches to tackling the under-representation of women in in clinical trials and data
- health inequalities:
- improving identification and the tackling of factors that influence the disproportionate length of time that women spend in ill health
- use of data in tracking and addressing regional and ethic disparities - supporting informed decision-making and personalised care
- prevention and early intervention:
- increasing access to screening and health checks - tailored services to groups with lower participation - building trust, and the role of partnerships VCSE and community groups
- innovation:
- strategies for use of online systems to make women’s health information more accessible
- involvement of women in design and delivery of new technologies - ways forward for addressing concerns about gender biases in AI tools
