Women’s health conference to drive progress to close health care gap

The University of Hull event platformed women’s lived experiences of healthcare challenges and aimed to strengthen the evidence base for more effective and equitable policy and clinical interventions.

Discussions focused on delays in diagnosis, unequal access to treatment and underinvestment in research for conditions including endometriosis, menopause and cardiovascular disease in women.

Dr Guinn said: “We’re highlighting health issues that matter most to women and still receive too little attention from funders, clinicians and policy makers - key areas of women’s healthcare, particularly menopause and endometriosis, where there’s a real lack of research and understanding.”

Women often live longer than men, but they spend more of those years in poor health, reflecting longstanding inequalities in how women’s health has been researched, understood and treated.

The gender health gap in the UK - the persistent disparity in health outcomes, research investment and access to care experienced by women - is now the largest of any country in the G20.

In areas not perceived to be gender related women are less likely to receive a coronary angiogram after a heart attack, and less likely to be prescribed preventative medicines, often because heart attacks can present differently in women than in men. Women often wait longer for pain relief and unlike men, common mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression, are rising in women.

The event aims to influence policy and practice, with sessions designed to translate research into real-world actions that can improve patient outcomes and healthcare systems. Delegates explored how national strategies are being implemented, alongside insights into the realities facing women every day.

Professor Dame Lesley Regan, Women’s Health Ambassador for England and a practicing clinician in reproductive medicine, set out progress in delivering the UK’s first Women’s Health Strategy.

Dame Lesley said: “Women’s healthcare needs are almost all predictable but too often they are not discussed, not recognised and not addressed.

“At the heart of the Women’s Health Strategy is a commitment to improve how the healthcare system listens to women, 84 per cent of women told us they had been ignored, dismissed or disbelieved.

“Since the strategy was published in 2022 things have started to change for the better. We have started to break down the barriers to understanding and have forged key collaborations. We need to travel further and faster and ensure that women’s voices and choices are central to healthcare design and delivery.

“The Women’s Health Conference is both a symptom of and a driver for the change we need to see.”

The conference focused on work to improve diagnostic pathways for endometriosis. Average patient wait times for diagnosis are currently over nine years. Pioneering research led by Dr Guinn could see diagnosis within weeks using non-invasive tests for women suffering from this painful and debilitating condition.

Dr Guinn said: “Closing these gender health gaps requires sustained attention, evidence, and collaboration. Universities, alongside clinicians, policymakers, charities and communities, can help create the conditions needed for successful collaboration. Supporting research, education and dialogue that bring evidence and practice closer together.

“We hope this will be the first of many Women’s Health Conferences at the University of Hull – events that strengthen our professional networks and inspire initiatives capable of driving meaningful progress towards closing the gender health gap.”