2025 Agenda

Listening to the 51 per cent: gender-based inequalities and women’s health across the lifecourse

12 Jun 2025
Charter 3
Integration – system / place / neighbourhood , Mobilising change / improvement

51 per cent of the population are women, and while on average women live longer they spend a significantly greater proportion of their lives in ill health when compared with men. The Women’s Health Strategy highlights that the majority of women have felt unheard by healthcare professionals for far too long. Research on women’s health has also been left behind. The economic case for change is stark: severe period pain costs the UK £3.7 billion annually in absenteeism, while severe perimenopause and menopause symptoms are estimated to result in £191 million in lost productivity per year.

This thought-provoking session will be an opportunity to hear from Dr Sue Mann, national clinical director for women’s health, and the Women’s Health Ambassador for England, about the ambitions of the Women’s Health Programme to reduce health inequalities and improve women’s health across the lifecourse. ICB leaders will share the innovative work they are doing to improve access and care for women through collaborative commissioning, digital technology and integrated care at the neighbourhood level via women's health hubs.

This session will review how the ‘three shifts’ can be implemented to drive improvements in women’s health, and draw out learning in how women's health can translate to other policy areas.

Sue Mann
Dr Sue Mann, National Clinical Director, Women's Health - NHS England
Sanhita Chakrabarti
Dr Sanhita Chakrabarti, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, ICB Women’s Health Champion and Clinical Lead - Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care Board
Lesley Regan
Dame Lesley Regan, Women's Health Ambassador for England - Department of Health and Social Care
Claire Riley
Claire Riley, Chief Corporate Services Officer and Executive Lead – Women's Health - North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board