England appoints ambassador to shake up women's health

England's first women's health ambassador is calling for "one-stop shops" where women can sort out their health needs.

Dame Lesley Regan, also a practising doctor, wants to make it easier for women and girls to access care such as contraception and smear tests in the community.

Her new role aims to close the "gender health gap". She will also support the upcoming government-led women's-health strategy.

"At the moment, we waste a lot of resource in telling girls and women that they cannot have things," she told BBC News.

"So you might go off to your doctor or gynaecologist or heart specialist and get told, well, you cannot have a smear here, even if it is due, or you need to go somewhere else for this, that and the other.

"We should make it very, very easy for people to access this out in the community - why do you need to go to a secondary or tertiary facility for things that are very easy to provide?"

Instead, she wants health hubs where women could "go for half a day and get all these things sorted out" and then get on with their lives.

"A one-stop shop is what I want for myself and what I want for my daughters and I'm sure it is what every other girl and woman wants and what every man and boy wants for the women in their lives, to be looked after that way," Dame Lesley said.

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Source: BBC News, 17 June 2022