News
Dame Lesley Regan vows to ‘revamp’ UK’s Women’s Health Strategy – “we’ve let women and girls down”
The Women’s Health Ambassador for England, Dame Lesley Regan, has promised to overhaul the government’s 10-year strategy, as she revealed the scale and cost of the UK’s gender health gap three years on.
Speaking at Women’s Health Week in London earlier this month, Regan revealed that Health Secretary Wes Streeting has tasked her with “revamping” the government’s Women’s Health Strategy, following the publication of his 10-year plan to reform the NHS.
Promising to “rise to the challenge”, Regan also hinted at plans to streamline pathways for innovators, to fast-track solutions into the NHS, and said that the system must stop “admiring the problem” and start redesigning care around women’s lives.
“We are the only country I know in the world with a national health service free at the point of delivery,” said Regan, during her closing keynote speech on Thursday 16 October.
“Yet we’ve got so complacent about the important things in women’s health that we’ve really let girls and women down.”
Major health challenges for women
A Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Imperial College London, Regan painted a stark picture of the state of women’s health in 2025.
As well as huge gaps in care for women and girls experiencing menstrual symptoms such as PMS and menopause, women face a raft of wider health challenges.
Contraception has become increasingly difficult to access, resulting in almost half of all pregnancies being unplanned, and as well as having the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Europe, abortion rates are also rising among women over 32.
Meanwhile, cervical screening uptake is at an all-time low, with marginalised women at greatest risk despite cervical cancer being preventable with HPV vaccination and smear tests.
The number of high-profile maternity scandals in recent years reflects a flawed system, where the annual amount spent on litigation costs by NHS Resolution exceeds the allocated total funding for maternity care.
Maternal mortality is three times higher in Black women and twice as high in Asian women, with suicide now a leading cause of direct maternal death, one in four among teenage girls.
According to Regan, many of those are known to mental health services.
“In the last maternal mortality report, every single woman who died was known to mental health services,” she said.
“I have to conclude that we let them down.”
Regan also highlighted gender disparities and inequalities in chronic health conditions, which often go undetected or misdiagnosed in women.
Conditions like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, for example, present differently in females, who are twice as likely to be diagnosed with dementia.
And while women are twice as likely to die from cardiovascular disease as from cancer (52 per cent deaths annually), they are often diagnosed later than men, due to a lack of understanding of their symptoms.
Major causes of morbidity and mortality, frailty and osteoporosis, also disproportionately affect women.
More than a fifth of females (21 per cent) are affected, compared to six per cent of men, with women typically experiencing twice as many fractures.
There are vast geographical inequalities, too.
Every year, 500,000 fragility fractures occur throughout the UK, but less than 53 per cent of the population can access Fracture Liaison Services in the community, with quality and standards varying significantly.
“Until very recently, most politicians across the globe viewed women’s health as maternity,” said Regan.
“But women spend most of their lives post-reproductive, and we have never really catered for that… We’ve got to look after women’s health across their life course.”
Delivering on women’s health hubs
The Women’s Health Strategy, first published in 2022, was shaped by the largest ever call for evidence in a Department of Health consultation, gathering a total of 100,000 responses. Out of these, 84 per cent of women reported not being listened to by healthcare professionals.
In response, the strategy set out a six-point plan which promised to address these inequalities, including through the establishment of women’s health hubs.
Regan believes hubs are crucial for delivering on the promises of the 10-year plan, including shifting from hospital to community care, moving from analogue to digital, and pivoting from treatment to prevention.
Successful case studies from hubs in some of the most deprived areas of England have demonstrated early benefits of these hubs, including reduced secondary-care referrals, shorter waiting lists, improved access and equity, workforce retention, more specialised training, and fewer adverse outcomes.
But not all Integrated Care Boards across England are offering all core services.
Delivering more Women’s Health hubs is part of a five-point plan moving forward, according to Regan, which also includes improving maternity and menstrual care, tackling inequalities and funding more research.
“We’ve continued to admire the problem, but that’s what we’ve got to stop,” Regan said.
“The most important thing to be able to do things better is that you have to be willing to do it differently.”
A “front door” for change
Building on this, Regan expressed her “frustration” at some of the challenges faced by startups trying to bring solutions to market, hinting at plans for a hub or a “big front door” to streamline regulatory approval processes.
“Almost every time I talk to entrepreneurs or investors, they tell me the same story: ‘We’ve been knocking on the door of government, and we always get pushback’,” she said.
“I want to paint that door bright yellow so you’ll never miss it, and when it opens, I want people to be welcoming. We need to stop sending people off to navigate endless pathways. There should be a hub that sorts it.”
Benefit to the UK economy
There’s a strong economic argument for the UK government to deliver on these promises.
Global life expectancy is increasing, and while women typically live longer than men, they spend more of their lives in poor health.
A woman will experience ill health for an average of nine years throughout her life, impacting her ability to be present and/or productive at home, in the workforce, and in the community.
Regan shared analysis from McKinsey Health Institute, which shows that more than half of the women’s health gap affects women during their working-age years, significantly impacting the UK’s GDP.
At least 56 per cent of Disability-Adjusted Life Years stem from conditions which impact women differently or disproportionately.
Taking this into account, closing the gender health gap in the UK could generate more than £36bn in annual GDP by 2040, a figure that could exceed $1 trillion globally.
A 2024 report published by the NHS Confederation estimates that the economic cost of absenteeism due to severe period pain and heavy periods, alongside endometriosis, fibroids and ovarian cysts, is nearly £11 billion per year, while 60,000 women are thought to be unemployed due to menopause symptoms.
The findings suggest that for every additional £1 invested in obstetrics and gynaecology per woman in England, the return on investment is estimated at £11.
Dutch collaboration
Regan has now been invited to the Netherlands to help officials there develop their own Women’s Health Strategy.
In conversation with Dutch Minister Judith Tielen, Regan highlighted the need for international collaboration to accelerate wider global change when it comes to women’s health.
The Netherlands is already collaborating across ministerial department’s including employment and social security, with education next.
Tielen shared the outcomes from an initiative at Amsterdam University Medical Centre, which offered free gynaecology consultations to female staff to reduce sick leave.
“Hundreds of women signed up in days, and sickness absence dropped significantly,” she said.
“It’s a societal question, not one for women to solve alone.”
Regan agreed, adding: “We cannot afford for women not to be part of the solution.”
Phthalates found in plastics and personal care products may be linked to higher blood pressure during pregnancy, a study suggests.
Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, including pre-eclampsia, are a leading cause of maternal mortality in the US.
Higher blood pressure during pregnancy has also been linked to adverse health outcomes for both mothers and children.
While family history and lifestyle are known risk factors, growing evidence suggests exposure to phthalates may also contribute to raised blood pressure during pregnancy.
Phthalates are chemicals found in plastics, personal care products and hundreds of other consumer goods. Some can interfere with the body’s natural hormones.
Kimberly Parra, of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said: “Our study suggests that having higher concentrations of personal care products-associated chemicals, known as phthalates, in the body might contribute to elevated blood pressure in pregnancy.
“While our study does not show that phthalates cause high blood pressure during pregnancy, it suggests that reducing exposure to this class of chemicals by limiting personal care products containing these ingredients, particularly those with fragrance, may be a way to address high blood pressure in pregnancy and improve pregnancy health.”
Researchers measured phthalate exposure and blood pressure in 338 pregnant women from the Environmental Reproductive and Glucose Outcomes Study at three points during pregnancy.
They analysed whether higher levels of the chemicals, individually and in combination, were linked to higher blood pressure or an increased risk of pregnancy-related high blood pressure disorders.
Women with higher urine concentrations of phthalates associated with fragrances and personal care products had higher systolic and diastolic blood pressure, markers of increased risk of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy.
Systolic blood pressure is the pressure in the arteries when the heart beats, while diastolic pressure measures it between beats.
Around 13 per cent of participants developed a pregnancy-related high blood pressure disorder.
Women with higher levels of certain phthalates, particularly those found in personal care products, tended to have higher blood pressure later in pregnancy.
Parra said: “More research is needed to better understand these findings, particularly whether the effects are driven by changes in oestrogen-related pathways. Additional studies should also examine the potential role of other phthalates and their replacement chemicals.”
Entrepreneur
Applications close August 18 for Women’s Health Innovation Summit 2026 Innovation Showcase
The Women’s Health Innovation Summit (WHIS) has reminded startups that applications for its 2026 Innovation Showcase close on Tuesday, August 18.
The Showcase gives early and growth-stage companies the opportunity to pitch live on stage to the most influential audience in women’s health, at a summit that convenes more than 1,000 senior decision-makers from across the ecosystem, including payers, providers, pharma, and investors.
Now in its eighth year, WHIS takes place October 13–15, 2026 at Encore Boston Harbor.
The event has built a reputation as the leading platform uniting the full women’s health ecosystem, from health systems and health plans to pharmaceutical leaders and the investors funding the next wave of innovation in the space.
A Direct Line to Funding, Partnerships and Adoption
Companies selected for the Innovation Showcase will present directly to an audience with the capital, clinical expertise and commercial relationships to move deals forward.
Past participants have gone on to secure investor introductions, commercial partnerships and clinical collaborations that started as presentations on the WHIS stage and turned into signed agreements.
Applications Reviewed by an Expert Selection Committee
Submissions are being reviewed by a selection committee of leading investors and industry operators, including:
- Parambir Bhangu, Executive Director, External Innovation & Emerging Science, Organon
- Elizabeth Bailey, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Foreground Capital
- Karla Loken, Founder, Loken and Associates
- Mané Mikayelyan, Associate Partner, DeciBio
- Anna Valcheva, Founder, Managing Director & CEO, Astra Ventures
- Azin Radsan van Alebeek, Co-founder & General Partner, Emmeline Ventures
WHIS is where the women’s health ecosystem comes together to get deals done,” said Poppy Howard-Wall, Event Director of WHIS.
How to Apply
Early and growth-stage companies across digital health, therapeutics, diagnostics, med device and consumer health are encouraged to apply before the August 18 deadline.
Full details and the application form are available at whisusa.com/attend/start-ups.
A third of women surveyed did not know perimenopause could affect mental health, with many experiencing symptoms for months before recognising them.
The survey of 1,000 women found many had been caught off guard by mental health symptoms linked to perimenopause or menopause.
It was conducted by Dynata on behalf of LifeStance Health in June 2026 and included women born between 1960 and 1990 who had, or suspected they had, perimenopause or menopause.
Respondents described anxiety as somewhat or extremely severe in 66 per cent of cases and depression in 54 per cent, with many initially attributing the symptoms to a separate condition rather than a hormonal transition.
Stephanie Eken, chief medical officer at LifeStance Health, said: “Women’s mental health needs change across their life stages, and perimenopause and menopause are among the biggest transitions of all.
“Specialised, life-stage-specific care should be standard practice, and I believe the organisations that build care around this reality, rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach, will define the next era of women’s health.”
Around 33 per cent of respondents said they did not know perimenopause could cause mental health symptoms.
Almost half, 49 per cent, were surprised that mental health symptoms linked to perimenopause or menopause could last for several years.
A further 22 per cent were surprised that perimenopause could begin shortly after childbirth.
The survey found 74 per cent experienced symptoms for six months or longer before suspecting perimenopause or menopause, while 27 per cent recognised the transition within six months.
Before recognising the symptoms as potentially linked to perimenopause or menopause, 49 per cent believed they were experiencing anxiety as a standalone condition and 39 per cent thought they had depression.
Around 36 per cent were surprised that symptoms linked to perimenopause or menopause could resemble a standalone mental health condition.
Among respondents who tried therapy for perimenopause or menopause-related symptoms, 83 per cent said it was helpful.
Around 82 per cent of those who tried medications such as antidepressants or oestrogen also found them helpful.
Nearly half, 47 per cent, said mental healthcare should be a standard part of perimenopause care, while 59 per cent said they would be more likely to seek mental healthcare if they knew it could meaningfully improve their symptoms.
Around 35 per cent said perimenopause or menopause had a slight to significant negative impact on their overall mental health, while 42 per cent reported a negative impact on mood.
However, 32 per cent reported no impact on their overall mental health and 22 per cent reported no impact on mood.
The survey points to women experiencing mental health symptoms for an extended period before connecting them to perimenopause or menopause, with many initially attributing anxiety or depression to an unrelated cause.
That delay may help explain why nearly half did not realise how long these symptoms can persist and why more than a third were surprised they could resemble a standalone mental health condition.
Despite the awareness gap, most respondents who sought treatment, whether therapy or medication, said it had been helpful.
Separate research published in 2023 estimated that menopause symptoms cost the US economy around US$1.8bn a year in lost work productivity.
The estimated cost rose to US$26.6bn when associated healthcare costs were included.
That research was based on more than 4,400 employed women aged 45 to 60, with its authors saying further studies in larger and more diverse populations were needed to confirm the findings.
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