Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to implement the Women's Health Strategy on tackling health inequalities and ensuring equitable access to and experience of services for women.
A priority running through the Women’s Health Strategy for England is ensuring that all women have equitable access to and experience of services and disparities in health outcomes between men and women and groups of women are reduced. Last year we appointed Professor Dame Lesley Regan as the Women’s Health Ambassador for England to ensure women that experience health disparities are heard. The Department will update Parliament on the implementation of the Women’s Health Strategy annually.
The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities is focused on improving the nation’s health and tackling health disparities. The health levelling up mission, stated in the Levelling Up White Paper, to improve healthy life expectancy by five years by 2035 and narrow the gap by 2030 remains Government policy. A significant proportion of ill health is preventable. By focusing on the major conditions that contribute to early death and reduce years of good health, as well as the behaviours that drive those conditions like smoking, poor diet and alcohol consumption, which disproportionately impact some places and communities, we will make progress on reducing health disparities and improve the health of women.