News

On 22 July 2019, the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) published the prevention green paper, setting out proposals for the future direction of a prevention strategy.

With regards to women’s health, the green paper emphasises the important role of local authorities, acknowledging that there have been good examples of ‘creative and energetic’ commissioning.

The Public Health Outcomes Framework (PHOF) provides an overview of national and local public health measures, intended to serve as a guidance for health authorities.

In July 2019, the NICE Guideline on LARC [CG30] was updated to reflect the changes in commissioning and provision of contraception in England.

Any materials referring to the October 2005 guideline will need to be updated, though the changes themselves are unlikely to cause a change in current practice.

DHSC has released data on abortion notifications in England and Wales for 2018, noting a substantial rise over the previous year.

The 2018 data on abortion rates have indicated that there has been an increase in the rate of abortions of 2.72% year-on-year between 2017 and 2018. However, the rise has not been universal across age groups.

NICE prepares for updating the NICE Quality Standard on HMB, due for publication in 2020.

In preparation for a consultation on the draft quality standard, NICE has published a topic overview on heavy menstrual bleeding. Alongside the existing core elements of the quality standard, NICE invited stakeholders to identify a maximum of five key areas for quality improvement. As these may figure into the standard.

Menstrual Health Coalition (MHC) launched a campaign on 15 July 2019 focused on HMB. The event explored the current pathway barriers that women may encounter and ongoing budgetary issues.