Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of Getting It Right First Time's guidance entitled Heavy Menstrual Bleeding, published in October 2021; and whether he plans to implement their recommendations.

The Getting It Right First Time’s (GIRFT) 2021 report into maternity and gynaecology identified a key barrier in treating heavy menstrual bleeding as the commissioning arrangements for contraceptive and sexual health services. The report recommended the lifting of restrictions on providing long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) for non-contraceptive purposes, such as treatment for heavy menstrual bleeding.

The commissioning of LARC is a decision for individual integrated care boards, who can decide whether to offer LARC through general practices or sexual health services, or both, based on an assessment of population need.

Additionally, £25 million has been invested by the Department to support the development of at least one pilot women’s health hub in every integrated care system, and work is ongoing with NHS England to provide this. Women’s health hubs bring together healthcare professionals and existing services to address fragmentation in reproductive health care and remove the barriers women face accessing treatment. Providing care and treatment for heavy menstrual bleeding is a core service of the hubs, and this includes treatment with LARCs.