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NHS England to boost health support for new mums
New mums in England will benefit from personalised postnatal care to support their physical and mental health
All new mums in England will receive better mental and physical check-ups from their GP in the weeks after giving birth, as part of a significant NHS guidance update.
GPs will carry out the comprehensive postnatal check-up six to eight weeks after women give birth, covering a range of topics such as mental health, physical recovery and breastfeeding.
Around 600,000 women give birth in England every year and they are all entitled to a postnatal check-up after they give birth, in addition to the newborn check-up.
The new NHS guidance written in collaboration with the Royal College of GPs will ask family doctors to provide personalised postnatal care for their physical and mental health and support them with family planning.
One of the country’s most senior GPs said the guidance would boost postnatal care and encouraged women to attend the important check-up.
Dr Claire Fuller, NHS medical director for primary care and the NHS’ lead GP in England said:“More than 600,000 women give birth every year in England, and so it is vital that they can get the right NHS mental health and physical support at what can be a hugely pressured moment in their lives.
“GPs are perfectly placed to offer new mums a welfare checks six to eight weeks after giving birth – for not only their physical health but also their mental wellbeing and this new NHS guidance published today ensures that family doctors have the resources to provide this comprehensive support.
“If you are a new or expectant mum and struggling with your mental health, the NHS is here to help so please come forward through your GP practice or midwifery team”.
The routine check-up is hoped to be an opportunity for GPs to better assess and support women in their physical and mental recovery post-birth, making sure they can be referred, if necessary, to a specialist straight away.
Health and Social Care Secretary, Victoria Atkins, said: “Mothers should be supported after giving birth. This includes being able to get the mental and physical health support needed for a healthy recovery – while giving new-borns the best start in life. The postnatal check provides an important opportunity for GPs to listen to women in a discrete, supportive environment.
“This builds on part of a wider scheme of support – including making new maternal mental health services available across all areas of England by March 2024 and £25 million to expand women’s health hubs”.
Women’s Health Ambassador, Dame Lesley Regan, said: “Supporting GPs to advise on contraception after giving birth makes it more convenient and easier for women to make safe, effective choices about the many benefits of spacing their future pregnancies.
“This new advice for GPs around the long-term health implications of conditions that may first appear during pregnancy, such as gestational diabetes, hypertension, and depression, will mean women are offered guidance about conditions that may develop or become more severe later in life.
“This guidance will empower women to be able to make more informed decisions about their own health and their babies’ welfare.”
She added: “A major focus of our women’s health strategy is to make the healthcare system work better for women. Having access to a comprehensive post-natal check by a GP will mean women can get on with their day to day lives swiftly. I think this guidance is a great step in the right direction.”
Submitting your research project for Femtech World Awards recognition can feel daunting.
What makes one project stand out from another?
After reviewing successful submissions from previous years, we’ve identified the key elements that transform good research into award-winning work.
Innovation That Solves Real Problems
Judges aren’t just looking for novelty – they’re looking for innovation that addresses genuine gaps in women’s health.
The best submissions clearly articulate a specific problem and demonstrate how their research offers a fresh approach to solving it.
Ask yourself: Does your research tackle an underserved area? Are you approaching a known problem from a new angle?
The most compelling projects often focus on issues that have been overlooked, understudied or inadequately addressed by existing solutions.
Whether you’re investigating menopause in the workplace, developing better diagnostic tools for endometriosis, or exploring mental health interventions for new mothers, clarity about the problem you’re solving is essential.
Rigorous Methodology
Strong research stands on solid foundations. Judges carefully evaluate your methodology to ensure your findings are credible and reproducible.
This doesn’t mean your research needs to be complete – early-stage projects are welcome – but you should demonstrate thoughtful research design.
Include details about your sample size, data collection methods, controls, and analytical approaches.
If you’re conducting qualitative research, explain how you’re ensuring validity. If you’re building a technological solution, describe your testing protocols.
Transparency about limitations shows intellectual honesty and strengthens rather than weakens your submission.
Measurable Impact Potential
The research projects that win hearts and awards are those with clear pathways to real-world impact.
Judges want to see beyond the research itself to understand how your work will improve women’s lives.
Consider questions like: Who will benefit from this research? How many people could be affected? What would successful implementation look like?
Whether your impact is clinical, social, economic, or policy-related, be specific.
Instead of saying “this will help women,” try “this diagnostic tool could reduce endometriosis diagnosis time from 7-10 years to under 2 years for an estimated 200 million women worldwide.”
Inclusivity and Diversity Considerations
Award-winning FemTech research recognises that women are not a monolith.
Judges increasingly value projects that consider diversity across age, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, disability, and geographic location.
Have you thought about how your research applies across different populations? Are you inadvertently excluding certain groups?
The strongest submissions acknowledge these considerations and, where possible, design research to be inclusive or clearly define the specific population being served.
Clear Communication
Even groundbreaking research won’t win if judges can’t understand it. The ability to communicate complex ideas clearly is crucial.
Avoid unnecessary jargon, define technical terms, and structure your submission logically.
Think of your submission as telling a story: Here’s the problem, here’s why it matters, here’s what we did, here’s what we found, and here’s why it matters for the future.
Feasibility and Sustainability
Judges appreciate ambitious research, but they also value realistic plans.
Show that you’ve thought about practical considerations: Do you have the resources to complete this work? Is your timeline reasonable?
For projects seeking commercialisation, is there a viable path to market?
Demonstrating that you’ve considered challenges and have strategies to overcome them shows maturity and increases confidence in your project’s success.
Your Passion Matters
Finally, don’t underestimate the power of genuine passion.
The researchers who win aren’t just technically proficient – they deeply care about their work and its potential to create change.
Let that commitment shine through in your submission.
Ready to submit? Find out more about the awards and enter for free here.
Transdermal HRT best protects bone density in women with functional hypothalamic amenorrhoea, a condition that stops periods, a review of trials has found.
The meta-analysis pooled randomised clinical trials involving 692 participants and found transdermal hormone replacement therapy and teriparatide increased bone mineral density by between 2 and 13 per cent.
Functional hypothalamic amenorrhoea can follow anorexia or intense exercise. Bone mineral density measures bone strength and the amount of mineral in bone.
Around half of women with the condition have low bone mineral density, compared with about 1 per cent of healthy women, and their fracture risk is up to seven times higher.
The research was conducted by scientists at Imperial College London and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust.
Professor Alexander Comninos, senior author of the study and consultant endocrinologist at the trust, said: “Bone density is lost very rapidly in FHA and so addressing bone health early is very important to reduce the lifelong risk of fractures.
“Our study provides much needed comparisons of all the available treatments from all available studies.
“Clearly the best treatment is to restore normal menstrual cycles and therefore oestrogen levels through various psychological, nutritional or exercise interventions – but that is not always possible.
“The foundation for bone health is good calcium and vitamin D intake (through diet and/or supplements) but we have additional treatments that are more effective.”
When FHA is diagnosed, clinicians first try to restore periods through lifestyle measures, including psychological and dietary support, but these can fail. Guidelines then recommend giving oestrogen, though the best form was unclear.
The team reviewed all prior randomised trials comparing therapies, including oral and transdermal oestrogen, and also assessed teriparatide, a prescription bone-building drug used for severe osteoporosis.
They found no significant benefit for oral contraceptive pills or oral hormone therapy.
A recent UK audit reported that about a quarter of women with anorexia-related FHA are prescribed the oral contraceptive pill for bone loss; the study suggests using transdermal therapy instead.
Comninos said: “Our goal is simple: to help women receive the right treatment sooner and to protect their bone health in the long-term.
“We hope this study provides clinicians with better evidence to choose transdermal oestrogen when prescribing oestrogen and so inform future practice guidelines.
“Right now, millions of women with FHA may not be receiving the best treatments for their bone health.”
An AI tool cut interval breast cancers by 12 per cent in a Swedish screening trial of more than 105,000 women.
The study also found 27 per cent fewer aggressive breast cancers detected at screening when AI was used.
Interval cancers are cancers found between routine screening appointments because they were missed at the original scan. They are often more dangerous and linked to higher death rates than cancers found at screening.
The MASAI trial is described as the first large randomised study to test whether AI can improve mammography screening, which uses low-dose X-rays to examine breast tissue for signs of cancer.
The AI tool, called Transpara Detection and developed by ScreenPoint Medical, supported radiologists in analysing mammography images.
Earlier results from the same trial showed that Transpara Detection increased cancers found by 29 per cent and reduced radiologist workload by 44 per cent compared with standard double-reading, where two radiologists independently review each scan.
The latest findings indicate higher accuracy with AI support. Sensitivity, the ability to detect cancer, was 6.7 percentage points higher in the AI group while specificity, the ability to rule out healthy cases, was maintained. Results were similar across age groups and breast density levels.
Women screened with AI had 16 per cent fewer invasive interval cancers and 21 per cent fewer large interval cancers than those in the standard screening group.
The system also helps doctors assess risk more precisely by subdividing suspicious findings into BI-RADS 4 categories A, B and C. BI-RADS (Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System) is a standardised scale that guides whether a patient needs closer monitoring, further tests or treatment.
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