Emer Higgins
Question:507. Deputy Emer Higgins asked the Minister for Health to provide details on the progress that has been made by his Department since the formation of the Government to promote women's health. [40970/23]
View answerTuesday, 26 September 2023
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Written answers
Progressing women’s health is a priority for myself and for this Government. We made a strong commitment to Promoting Women’s Health in the Programme for Government 2020 and are fully committed to the continued development and improvement of women’s health services and to working with women and girls to improve their health and experiences of healthcare across the whole life cycle.
Underscoring our commitment to women’s health was the establishment of a Women’s Health Taskforce in September 2019 to improve both health outcomes and experiences of healthcare for women and girls. The Women’s Health Taskforce continues to work with the National Women’s Council of Ireland and the European Institute of Women’s Health to prioritise different issues each year with the aim of improving women’s health outcomes and experiences. Critical to this work is the process of listening to women - the Taskforce has so far listened to, engaged with and worked with thousands of women and hundreds of organisations representing women and girls across the country and commits to continued listening.
The Women’s Health Action Plan 2022-23 was published on 8 March 2022, marking International Women’s Day. The Action Plan identifies key actions to improve health outcomes and experiences for women in Ireland. It provides the foundation to address women’s whole health and help ensure that action on women’s health looks beyond reproductive health to make a real difference to women’s lives.
Prioritisation of women’s health is further supported through the significant investment contained within Budget 2022 and 2023, which allocated €31m and €69.2m respectively in funding for new developments in Women's Health. This includes:
2022:
• €8.66 million additional funding for the National Maternity Strategy.
• €9 million to fund access to free contraception for women aged 17-25.
• €5.3 million to grow access to “see and treat” gynaecology clinics; specialist menopause clinics; and specialist endometriosis services.
• €1.34 million to support initial establishment of a perinatal genetics service.
• €0.71m investment in tackling period poverty for the first time.
• €0.54million to establish an expert Obstetric Event Support Team to support services and sites that report severe maternity incidents
• €0.25m additional investment in Sexual Assault Treatment Units.
2023:
• €11.7 million to provide access to publicly funded AHR/IVF treatment.
• Elimination of VAT on HRT and period products.
• Expansion of the Free Contraception Scheme to cover women aged 30 and under.
• €0.9m investment in the development of Women’s Health Hubs, for the holistic provision of women’s healthcare.
Prioritisation of women’s health in our service provision is seen in the completed and ongoing work happening to improve healthcare for women across the country. There have been a number of key developments since the establishment of the Women’s Health Taskforce and the Women’s Health Action Plan 2022-23.
• Contraception : The free contraception scheme for women was launched in September 2022, initially for those aged 17-25. The scheme was expanded on January 1st to include 26-year-old women, and expanded further, from September 1st, 2023, to include women aged 30 and under. Approximately €32m was allocated to support the scheme, including scheduled expansions, in Budget 2023.
• Menopause: 6 Specialist Menopause Clinics to treat complex symptoms of Menopause, all of which are open and operational. A GP Quick Reference Guide on Menopause was launched in October 2022 to support primary care practitioners in treating menopause and referring patients to Specialist Clinics. The National Menopause Awareness Campaign (Radio, Online, Print, TV) was launched in two phases by the Department of Health to raise awareness and “lift the taboo” around menopause. Gov.ie/menopause was launched as a one-stop shop for information about menopause and its symptoms as well as advice on proactive management. VAT was removed from HRT in Budget 2023.
• Fertility: 6 Regional Fertility Hubs have been established to provided tailored, low-level intervention for patients with fertility issues. Investment to support publicly-fund Assisted Human Reproduction has also been allocated and will see the first National AHR Centre established. As an interim measure, funding has been made available to enable eligible patients to access AHR treatment via private providers, a new initiative which is to ‘go live’ week commencing 25th September 2023.
• Gynaecology: A network of 20 “see and treat” ambulatory gynaecology clinics are in development, where an estimated 70% of general gynaecology referrals are suitable for management. 13 Ambulatory Gynae Clinics are currently open and operational, with additional clinics in development. The national network will improve access to services; help to reduce the requirement for multiple gynaecology appointments; help to ensure sustainability of service provision into the future given the significant waiting lists for this specialty; and will help improve clinical outcomes.
• Maternity: Under Budgets 2021 and 2022, €16m in new development funding was allocated to the National Maternity Strategy to ensure the continued implementation of the Strategy and the ongoing roll out of the Strategy’s model of care in line with the Programme for Government. This investment is providing for further development of community midwifery services, expansion of breastfeeding supports, improved access to allied and specialised services and strengthened training and education supports for staff. This investment is also improving the infrastructure of our maternity services by providing additional home-from-home birthing suites and upgrades to theatres and wards.
• Termination of Pregnancy Review: The final Report of Review of the operation of the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy)Act 2018 was considered by Cabinet on the 25th April 2023. The Report contains a range of recommendations most of which are operational in nature, with some proposing legislative change. Government agreed, that the HSE would establish an implementation group to progress the operational recommendations. Significant progress is being made in respect of various recommendations in the Report. The HSE has advised that a significant number of additional sites will be introducing termination services in the coming months. Legislation providing for safe access zones has been initiated in the Houses and it is our intention to enact it before the end of the year. The proposals around legislative change were referred to the Joint Committee on Health for consideration.
• Safe Access Zones : I secured Cabinet approval to legislate for the designation of safe access zones around healthcare premises to safeguard access to termination of pregnancy services in July 2022 and published the General Scheme of the Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services (Safe Access Zones) in August 2022. Since that time officials have worked with the Office of the Attorney General and other relevant stakeholders to draft the text of a bill. This Bill was published at the end of June 2023 and initiated in the Houses in early July. Subject to the parliamentary timetable it is intended to have the legislation enacted by the end of the year.
• Mental Health: The Women’s Health Fund provided investment in 2022 to support a range of services for women and girls, including digital mental health services access, improving perinatal mental health supports, enhancing specialist eating disorder supports, providing targeted mental health supports for marginalised women and women in addiction and responding to the needs of young girls at risk of developing psychosis. In March 2023, the Minister for Health launched Embedding Women’s Mental Health in Sharing the Vision – a report by the specialist group on the National Implementation Monitoring Committee (NIMC) Specialist Group on women’s mental health. Work is on-going to implement its recommendations in the delivery of the policy. Work is ongoing on the implementation of the Model of Care for Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Services as a key priority under Sharing the Vision, our national mental health policy. Perinatal mental health services have now been developed in all 19 maternity units/hospitals and provide specialist support to women experiencing mental health difficulties in pregnancy. Perinatal mental health disorders are those which complicate pregnancy and the first postnatal year.
• Physical Activity: The campaign, ‘It’s My Time’, funded by a €300,000 allocation from the Women’s Health Fund and managed by Sport Ireland in collaboration with Healthy Ireland, was run in December 2022 and January 2023, following detailed marketing research on messaging resonating with women in the target demographics. It’s My Time encouraged women to prioritise their wellbeing by getting more physically active on their own terms and in their own time. The campaign ran across digital, video-on-demand, and social media and was supported by various sporting National Governing Bodies and the nationwide network of Local Sports Partnerships.
• Period Poverty: Removal of VAT from period products in Budget 2023. Funding of €714,000 was allocated for period poverty initiatives in Budget 2022, this funding was then increased in 2023 to €814,000. This funding supports period dignity measures rolled out in partnership with the HSE, local authorities and NGOs. In 2023 to date, funding has been provided to 21 local authorities and 11 NGOs, including a significant allocation to the Family Resource Centre National Forum, which is supporting 44 FRCs. The Healthy Ireland Survey, 2022, included a module on menstrual health and period poverty, finding that 51% of women currently having periods experience disruption to participating in daily life (work, school, sports, social events) as a result of symptoms, and that 24% have experience of period poverty.
Additional investment can be seen through the Women’s Health Fund which was established in Budget 2021 to respond to the needs of women in year. The dedicated €10 million has invested in a range of key service areas including cancer screening and immunisation, primary care supports, maternity services and postnatal hubs, gynaecology, mental health and supports for marginalised groups.
In the longer-term, through a population health approach championed in the Sláintecare report, we will be planning services around the health and social care needs of our entire population. Factors that will inform this include age, socioeconomic status, disability status, health care utilisation patterns, ethnicity, and gender. The insights gained from this will form an evidence base that will inform future service planning, workforce planning, review of eligibility, and capital planning. The service needs of women will be considered as part of all this.
Implementation of the services listed above represents significant development and advancement for women's health nationwide, but this remains a work in progress. I am committed to the full implementation of the Women's Health Action Plan 2022-23 and will continue to drive progress in all areas of women's health to fulfil its mandate into the future.