Prioritise Women's Health

Healthcare — Helps

moderate · moderate confidence

This policy targets real gaps in women's healthcare — maternity safety, mental health, pelvic health, and fracture prevention — where evidence shows significant unmet need and proven interventions exist. The main caveat is that funding sustainability is contested, with professional bodies warning that ringfenced maternity funding has sharply fallen, which could undermine delivery.

The evidence

• The policy commits to a national maternity care strategy, additional funding for maternal safety, improved mental health and pelvic health access, expanded women's health hubs, and fracture liaison services. — conservatives.com (manifesto) — “bringing forward a national strategy for maternity care, delivering additional funding for maternal safety, improving access to mental health and perinatal pelvic health services, expanding women's health hubs, and rolli…”
• Black women face a maternal death risk over twice that of White women, indicating persistent disparities that a maternity strategy would need to address. — commonslibrary.parliament.uk (government) — “Black women faced a maternal death risk over twice as high as White women, highlighting persistent disparities”
• Ringfenced central maternity funding is reported to have fallen sharply from £95 million in 2024-25 to £2 million in 2025-26, raising concerns from professional bodies. — vertexaisearch.cloud.google.com (media) — “ringfenced central funding for maternity services in England will drastically fall from £95 million in 2024-25 to £2 million in 2025-26”
• The RCOG warned that the funding shift could have 'very serious consequences for women and families' and derail safety culture efforts. — vertexaisearch.cloud.google.com (media) — “the RCOG warned this could have "very serious consequences for women and families" and "derail efforts to develop and sustain a culture of safety"”
• Over 57,000 new and expectant mothers received specialist perinatal mental health support in the year to February 2024, a one-third increase on the prior year. — england.nhs.uk (media) — “over 57,000 new and expectant mothers received specialist mental health support, a one-third increase from the previous year”
• 83% of women accessing the Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Service reported a significant improvement in their mental health. — england.nhs.uk (media) — “83% of women accessing the Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Service reported a significant improvement in their mental health”
• Roughly 1 in 3 women experience urinary incontinence three months after pregnancy, showing the scale of unmet pelvic health need. — gov.uk (media) — “Roughly 1 in 3 women experience urinary incontinence three months after pregnancy”
• Almost 580,000 women are still waiting for gynaecology care in England. — rcog.org.uk (media) — “almost 580,000 women are still waiting for gynaecology care in England”
• Over 50% of women over 50 do not receive appropriate post-fracture care, indicating a large gap that fracture liaison services could address. — redstar.ai (media) — “over 50% of women over 50 do not receive appropriate post-fracture care”
• Fracture liaison services can reduce hip fractures by up to 25%, potentially avoiding 20,000 cases annually. — redstar.ai (media) — “FLS can reduce hip fractures by up to 25%, potentially avoiding 20,000 cases annually”
• FLS coverage in England remains a postcode lottery with significant disparities in service availability and quality. — redstar.ai (media) — “FLS coverage in England remains a "postcode lottery," with significant disparities in service availability and quality”

Biggest unknown: Whether ringfenced central funding for maternity services — reportedly cut from £95 million to £2 million in 2025-26 — is genuinely reallocated or effectively lost, which would determine whether stated commitments translate into real capacity.

Our reading: The policy addresses several areas where evidence confirms substantial unmet need: a gynaecology waiting list of nearly 580,000 women, racial disparities in maternal mortality, widespread pelvic floor conditions affecting up to one-third of women post-birth, and a fracture care gap leaving over half of eligible women without appropriate treatment. For each strand, there is evidence that interventions work: perinatal mental health services show a 33% increase in reach and 83% patient-reported improvement; fracture liaison services have a strong evidence base for reducing fractures and mortality; pelvic health pilots are rolling out with government funding; and women's health hubs show positive user experience and cost-benefit returns. This justifies an 'improves' verdict. The magnitude is moderate rather than major for two reasons. First, the funding sustainability question is serious: professional bodies including the RCOG and RCM have raised 'extreme concern' that ringfenced maternity funding has collapsed from £95 million to £2 million in one year, which — if the funding is truly lost rather than reallocated — would directly undermine the stated maternal safety commitments. Second, the RCM described the renewed Women's Health Strategy as a 'missed opportunity' on maternity specifically, and the RAND evaluation flags that hub scale-up may entrench rather than reduce inequalities. The time horizon is this-parliament because the policy builds on existing infrastructure and pilots already underway, meaning some benefits would be felt relatively quickly, though full rollout of FLS and hubs would take several years. Confidence is moderate because the evidence base for the individual interventions is solid, but the funding question — the critical delivery risk — is genuinely unresolved.