Waiting for a way forward: Voices of women and healthcare professionals at the centre of the gynaecology care crisis (RCOG, November 2024)

Summary

Building on the findings documented in the the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG)’s previous report, Left for too long, the College commissioned new primary research to deepen our understanding of the size and impact of gynaecology waiting times on women and professionals across the system in the UK today.

This report demonstrates that waiting lists for gynaecology in the UK have increased by a third since the previous report in 2022. Three quarters of a million women across the UK are now waiting for gynaecology treatment, and the data available nationally only captures a snapshot of the problem.

Content

The UK Government must deliver help now to improve care for women waiting:

• Continue to promote or expand schemes so that women can access free products to manage symptoms such as heavy menstrual bleeding and incontinence.
• Urgently prioritise improving communication with women waiting for gynaecology care and treatment, including giving women clarity on how long they should expect to wait. This work must include national, system and local leads from across the UK to ensure this is addressed at every level of operational delivery.
• Expand the accessible information and advice that is available at a national level which can be accessed on relevant NHS websites in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. This should be co-produced with service users.
• Direct relevant system and local leads to urgently produce easy-to-read accessible bespoke summaries of what local networks and resources are available to women waiting on gynaecology lists so they can access additional support in their local communities, close to home.

To support professionals, the report recommends that governments across the UK:

• Provide health services with the resources they need so they can protect gynaecology services against operational pressures, ensuring greater theatre and diagnostic capacity for gynaecology.
• Build, enable, and incentivise protected training time in gynaecology as part of any elective recovery plan, to future-proof care provision.
• Develop accessible professional guidance about supporting women on waiting lists, ensuring it is easily accessible nationally.
• Consider targeted funding at a national level to expedite the longest waits, to ensure equity.
• Work with leads at all levels of the system to develop or consolidate strategic support networks and partnerships, particularly those between primary and secondary care, to improve delivery of care.
• Thank all professionals at every part of the pathway working in women’s health, acknowledging the specific challenges in the wider system that are unique to women’s health.

The UK Government must also act now to deliver for the future to ensure high-quality gynaecology care for every woman in the UK:

• Commit to expanding Women’s Health Hubs in an equitable and sustainable way so that they can be established, to ensure all women, wherever they live, can access care and support to manage their health across their whole life course.
• Set out how it plans to deliver, with sustainable funding attached, the future demand and supply requirements outlined in the Long Term Workforce Plan.

This should include plans to recruit professionals and deliver retention measures to encourage professionals to stay in the NHS.

• Increase the levels of funding allocated to health across UK, including increased funding in devolved nations.
• Implement measures to improve education and awareness of gynaecology in wider society and create better access to education and training for professionals in gynaecology care.
• Consider how to build on existing digital initiatives, commit to expanding data collection in gynaecology and commit to ringfenced funding to enable research, patient participation, innovation and pilots to improve understanding and experiences of gynaecology.

Further reading on the hub:

• One hour with a women's health expert and finally I felt seen
• The normalisation of women’s pain
• Sex bias in pain management decisions
• Misogyny is a safety issue: a blog by Saira Sundar