Category: Health

The statement made by Victoria Atkins, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, on 21 May 2024.

Yesterday we heard the harrowing conclusion of Sir Brian Langstaff’s inquiry on infected blood. The report lays bare the many failings of successive governments, including historic failings in my own department. As the Secretary of State, I apologise unreservedly for the actions which have hurt and harmed so many people, culminating in the damning conclusions of the report.

“Instances of the destruction of records and withholding of information are shocking and unacceptable. This should not have happened and must never happen again. We will study the report to make sure the lessons of Sir Brian’s Inquiry are learned and that these mistakes can never be repeated.

“I give my sincere thanks to all of the victims, families and campaigners for sharing their pain and for their fortitude in pursuing the truth over many decades, as well as to Sir Brian for his meticulous and comprehensive analysis. I am working with the NHS Business Services Authority to ensure that all those eligible receive a second interim payment of £210,000 as soon as possible.

“This terrible history of failures, experiments, disbelief, and cover ups has stolen the lives of victims and their families; instead of birthdays, careers, freedoms and joy, the victims’ lives are measured in pain, mental anguish, the crushing burden of stigma and the agony of wondering what could have been. Never again.

The speech made by Victoria Atkins, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, on 13 May 2024.

Good evening everyone.

It is an absolute privilege to be speaking to you all this evening as we mark the launch of the first ever birth trauma inquiry report.

And I’d like to start by thanking my dear friend Theo [Theo Clarke MP] for her strength in speaking out about her own experiences and in so doing, creating this incredible workstream whereby other women are being invited to give their experiences and to be listened to.

I mean, Theo is, to my mind the exemplar of a Parliamentary powerhouse, and it’s been an absolute pleasure working with you, but also I genuinely think the work that you have achieved will have very, very long-term and positive benefits for women across England.

The reaction that you have received from women shows just how critical this work is.

You have given a voice to those who may never have shared the pain and the suffering that they have been through, or when they have spoken up, they have not been listened to.

And so, thanks to you and to the brave women in this room, but also the many, many brave women who have contributed to this report, or who have shared their stories today with media outlets, as it has rightly got such media attention.

But thanks to those brave women, things are changing and you are shining a bright light on the struggles that too many women face, and you are putting birth trauma at the heart of our national conversation, and ensuring that other mums do not have to suffer in silence.

And I’d also really like to thank the wider APPG, co-chaired by Theo but also by Rosie [Rosie Duffield MP], and both of whom have really demonstrated, along with APPG colleagues, just how cross-party working can work to the very best for us as a country.

And so thank you to every single Parliamentarian involved in the APPG.

And in that spirit, I am determined to make care for new mums and mums to be faster, simpler and fairer because the birth of a child should be among the happiest moments in our lives.

That said, of course, for the overwhelming majority of families it is.

Each week around 10,000 babies are born in England on the NHS and most of them are born safely and with mothers and families reporting a good experience of the care they receive.

But we want that for every woman and every family.

And as this inquiry demonstrates so starkly, there is far too much unacceptable variation across the country in the service that women receive.

Some mums endure simply unacceptable care and live with the consequences of that trauma for the rest of their lives.

Now I’ve been open about my own experiences with the NHS.

The NHS is genuinely one of the reasons I came into politics.

I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 3 and I’ve seen the very best of the NHS, but I’ve also seen some of its darker corners and that includes in my own experience when I was pregnant.

As you can imagine the clinicians in the room will understand a type 1 diabetic being pregnant brings its own complications. And I had wonderful, wonderful care in many, many instances. But I also had examples where I wouldn’t wish other women to go through the same, including – and I’ve spoken about this – I was rushed into hospital earlier than anyone had planned, and I was put on a ward, heavily pregnant, not quite knowing what the future was holding for me or my baby.

And, I was on the ward where women who had just experienced extremely traumatic, dare I say it, dangerous births were being rushed from theatre on to the ward where I was.

Now clearly their experiences were far, far worse and far more traumatic than my own.

But you can imagine how frightening actually that experience was for a first-time mum to be, with the concerns that I was having to live with at the time.

So just that, as an example, I know everybody was trying to do their best at that point, but I desperately want to ensure that women who are expecting and who need additional support don’t find themselves in similar or even worse situations as I did.

And I want to make sure that no woman goes through a physical and mental trauma, and while giving birth, that could have been prevented.

Now I know that at the Women’s Health Summit in January, Dame Lesley Regan and I talked about – and forgive me, gentlemen – we talked about the NHS being a system that was created by men, for men.

And that struck a chord with many women, particularly those who know Lesley and know she is another female powerhouse. And the truth is that women have suffered in pain that would simply not be tolerated in any other part of the hospital.

Women have tried to raise concerns about unacceptable care, but they’re being told it’s all just natural.

And it is that, if you like, silencing, that really should not be the reality that women face in the 21st century.

We can and we will do better.

Now, being made Health Secretary in November, I have been impatient to make progress.

And that is why in January I held the Women’s Health Summit, where I made birth trauma one of the top priorities for the second year of the Women’s Health Strategy.

And I want to make this year not just the year that we listen, but that we act and that this is happening now.

We are rolling out new maternal mental health services for new mums, which are already available in all but 3 local health systems.

We are, believe you me, paying close attention to those final 3 areas to make sure they finalise their plans at pace this year.

On physical injuries too, we are rolling out improved perinatal pelvic health services, including guidance to better support women who experience serious tears and to prevent these from happening in the first place.

We’re halfway through. We plan to get to full coverage by the end of the financial year. And these services will be supported by our announcement at the Spring Budget of an extra £35 million more for more midwives and better training for when things go wrong.

On top of the extra £186 million a year we are already investing into maternity services and safety compared to 3 years ago.

And thanks to Theo, we have also introduced stand-alone GP appointments 6 to 8 weeks after giving birth to ask those crucial questions about whether mum is okay while keeping separate checks for her baby, because we know a happy, healthy mum means a happy, healthy baby.

And this is supported by new guidance to prompt direct questions about their birth experience, even if there is nothing in her notes to suggest that the birth was traumatic.

I want to embed a culture that listens to women right from the start of their pregnancy, and so I’m delighted that NHS England are co-producing new decision-making tools with new mums to help guide through choices on how they give birth, what interventions could happen and what pain relief they should be offered.

These will be made available in a range of languages and formats to make sure that they can be tailored to different settings and to different local populations, because the ethnic disparities that Kim [Dr Kim Thomas] and Theo have highlighted have to be tackled, and we are determined to do that.

Theo’s speech in Parliament spoke to the lasting impact that birth trauma can have on the whole family. And of course, dads and partners are very much part of that. And so I’m extremely grateful to Theo’s husband for making that point.

But also we have listened in government and Maria Caulfield, my minister, who is responsible for men’s health along with a great many other things, will be chairing the next session of the Men’s Health Task and Finish Group in June to focus on dads’ mental health and trauma so that we can better understand how to support partners.

And I’m delighted to announce that the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) will commission new research into the economic impact of birth trauma, including how this affects women returning to work.

That’s a really important idea and a really important commitment.

I know there is so much work to do to deliver on the detailed findings of this report and I, together with NHS England, fully support the APPG’s call to develop a comprehensive cross-government national strategy for maternal care.

I’m very grateful to the NHS for the progress that has been made so far on the 3-year delivery plan for maternity and neonatal services, but I want to go further and a comprehensive national strategy will help us to keep driving that work forward while making sure everyone across government and the health service are crystal clear about what we need in maternity services to focus on.

And I also want to be clearer to mums and those looking after them, what their rights and expectations should be, so that everybody can be clear about the standard of care that mums deserve.

So watch this space.

Now in conclusion, this is the first time in the NHS’s 75-year history that I, as the Secretary of State, but also the chief executive of NHS England, are both mums.

We get it.

And for this, this is not just professional, it is personal.

Both Amanda [Pritchard] and I take our responsibilities to all of you incredibly seriously and I have to say more soon on how I plan to make this area of our health system faster, simpler and fairer.

So I want to finish by thanking you, each and every one of you that has been involved in this report, for everything you have done to kickstart the national conversation about birth, trauma and how women should be listened to and their concerns acted upon.

And I really look forward to continuing this conversation with you in the months ahead.

Thank you so much.

The speech made by Victoria Atkins, the Health and Social Care Secretary, on 7 March 2024.

Good morning everyone, what an absolute pleasure it is to be here at the Nuffield Trust.

This is one of the landmark moments in the calendar of a Secretary of State for Health.

I know that I am about to be scrutinised – and indeed cross examined – by some of the country’s leading experts in healthcare.

So, believe you me, this makes Jeremy’s outing at the Budget yesterday feel very easy in comparison.

But can I thank the Nuffield Trust for inviting me to speak to you today – it is a great honour.

But it is also a privilege.

Because the National Health Service is, genuinely, one of the reasons I came into politics.

And today, having the privilege of speaking to you – those who work in healthcare, but also who are very, very conscious of its future, of the challenges we face today, but also our determination to prepare it for the years and decades to come, I would like to have a little bit of intellectual freedom to look at its future in a different light.

Our national conversation around healthcare has tended to focus on older people, who are living longer, and with more health conditions.

And later this afternoon the Chief Medical Officer – the wonderful Chris Whitty – will outline how we’re supporting them to live more independently, and with more years in good health, and rightly so.

But I think there is a set of voices that is not heard often enough – the voices of young people.

Young people not only pay for the NHS of today, but they will also use the NHS of tomorrow.

And we know that high costs of living and rising rents are making it difficult for our young people to make those long-term decisions that are so important to us all, such as buying a house or starting a family.

We cannot therefore expect them to foot the bill for an infinite increase in healthcare spending.

The Chancellor’s Budget yesterday rightly recognised that we cannot continue to have a larger tax burden falling on a smaller number of working people.

For me, the path we must take is obvious.

We must build a more productive state, not a bigger one.

And research proves this point.

Today there are 3.3 workers to support every pensioner.

In less than 50 years, there will be fewer than 2 workers to support every pensioner.

So, we need to stop the next generation being dragged into a tax and spend black hole – where they put more in to get less out.

Because this is a recipe not just for them losing faith in the institutions that we hold so dear, but also I worry for losing faith in capitalism, and losing faith in our democracy.

But the decisions we took in yesterday’s Budget will make a meaningful difference.

We took decisions that will reduce long-term demand, and improve productivity – not just throughout the NHS, but across the economy.

Because the two go hand in hand.

A strong economy helps pay for the NHS.

And a strong NHS supports a growing economy.

So today, I want to share our plan to achieve both of these things through productivity and accountability.

But before I do that, there is of course one topic that is fundamental to my plan to reform the NHS to make it faster, simper, and fairer – and that is prevention.

In the coming weeks, I will set out further thoughts on this very important topic.

But I hope you’ll forgive me, following yesterday’s incredibly significant announcement at the budget, I wanted to focus today on productivity and how it can make meaningful changes to the NHS that we all want to see.

Now, to productivity.

I know that you’ve heard about this already.

And indeed, Thea Stein has observed that NHS staff and clinicians don’t get out of bed in the morning thinking about how they could be more productive.

I get that.

They are motivated by doing the very best they possibly can for patients. And that is the way it should be.

So when I talk about productivity, this is not about telling staff they need to work harder.

It is about giving them the tools – and the time – to give patients the best care they can.

Now, we know the NHS can be productive.

From 2010 to the start of the pandemic in 2020, productivity growth in the NHS outstripped the wider economy by more than 1 per cent a year.

But since then, it has gone into reverse.

The causes are complex.

The pandemic has clearly increased demands on staff, and spending on agency staff has risen as a result.

Our Long-Term Workforce Plan, the first in NHS history, will get this spending in check – reducing it by as much as £10 billion over time.

And we should also be frank about the significant problems and pressures that industrial action has caused across the system…

…including, sadly, the 1.4 million appointments and operations that have been cancelled since strikes began in December 2022.

Nonetheless, a reasonable and fair deal can be struck, and I’m really pleased that unions are recommending our new offer to NHS consultants.

Should their members accept this deal – and I hope they will – we will all be able to move forward with providing patients with the care they need and see waiting lists fall.

But the Budget will deliver savings for everyone who works in the NHS.

The 2p cut in National Insurance will grow the average nurse’s pay packet by more than £500 a year.

This is on top of the National Insurance cut that we’ve already delivered this year, that taken together will benefit the average worker by more than £900.

But the Budget went further.

As well as helping the NHS meet the pressures it will face in the coming years with an additional £2.5 billion, it set out our determination to return to the productivity we all know the NHS has – and can – deliver by funding a £3.4bn capital investment plan to invest in technology.

The productivity plan, along with the Long-Term Workforce Plan, will see productivity grow by 2 per cent per year.

Meeting and exceeding the growth we saw in the last decade, and unlocking £35 billion of savings by the end of this decade.

We will digitise operating theatres, opening up an extra 200,000 operating slots a year.

We will set up a new NHS staff app, making it easier to roster electronically and ending the use of expensive off-framework agencies.

We will update IT systems, giving our doctors and nurses millions of hours back to spend with patients; rather than on hospital computer screens or computers on trolleys.

We will support every hospital to use electronic patient records, making the NHS the world’s largest digitally integrated healthcare system.

And we will improve the NHS app so patients can use it to confirm and modify all appointments.

This will increase choice, reduce the number of missed appointments by half a million every year, and make the NHS app the front door for prevention as well as for cure – somewhere patients can book vaccinations and access all their preventative tests in one place.

This productivity plan will make life simpler for staff and cut waiting lists for patients.

And it is our responsibility – and I would go as far to say, it is our duty – to prepare the NHS for the future.

This is why we want to seize the opportunities of AI for the benefit of our health.

It has already revolutionised stroke care across the NHS – halving the time it takes to treat people and tripling the number who recover to reach functional independence.

Now, we will use AI to potentially cut in half the form filling by doctors and nurses. And upgrade over one hundred MRI scanners across England, so that more than 130,000 patients a year can receive their results faster.

This will allow them to start treatment sooner, free up clinicians to spend more time with patients who need them most, and save taxpayers money.

And so that’s what I mean when I say that technology can make our NHS faster, simpler, and fairer.

As well as improving performance across primary, secondary and community care, technology can also strengthen social care – keeping people out of hospital and helping them live well at home.

This is what the Accelerating Reform Fund is all about.

It provides local authorities with £40 million of government funding to invest in the most innovative new technology to help look after older people.

Whether that’s through introducing new digital tools to boost recruitment and retention, or increasing social prescribing, which can reduce costs and help people build connections with their communities.

Our Long-Term Workforce Plan set out that NHS productivity growth of between 1.5 and 2 per cent was possible.

And thanks to the productivity plan we announced yesterday, Amanda Pritchard has committed to delivering 2 per cent.

It will be challenging, but if we work together, we can get this done.

Today, I also want to send a clear message about accountability.

Trusts, ICBs, regional boards, and NHS England are responsible for billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money.

It’s not our money, it’s not government’s money.

It is the money that all our nurses, porters, receptionists, as well as shop workers, waiting staff, and the self-employed have earned and then paid to government from their wages.

It is therefore our duty to ensure that this money is spent as well as possible.

Poor performance cannot be tolerated, and good performance must be rewarded.

To achieve this, by the summer, NHS England will start reporting against new productivity metrics, not only at the national level, but also across integrated care boards and trusts.

And I want us to go further – because I’ve listened to you – by introducing new incentives to reward providers that hit productivity targets.

So, I want to see providers retain the surpluses they generate through productivity improvement, and reinvest them in frontline services to support the clinicians who made these savings possible.

Now of course, accountability extends beyond productivity to all of the work that the NHS does.

I have been very honest about my own experiences of the NHS.

I have received great care, but I have also seen some of the darker corners of our health system.

And technology and the data it will produce, can be used by the public, as well as professionals to shine a light on poor performance.

Care will not just be scrutinised by committees of MPs in dusty, ancient committee rooms in the Palace of Westminster, it will also be scrutinised by the public on their phones.

This is what digital natives expect in every other area of their lives, and healthcare should not lag behind.

Now we’re already making progress.

People can find out how their local trust is performing with a few taps on a screen.

Quite rightly, the pubic expect to receive the best care, and that care should not be prescribed by where they happen to live.

And I say this of course as a proud Lincolnshire MP, which is a very different healthcare proposition from central London or central Birmingham.

Postcodes can still determine the speed and quality of care.

This is seen starkly in waiting lists.

The long hangover of the pandemic must be tackled and waiting lists must be cut.

Yet half of the NHS’s longest waits are concentrated in just 15 trusts.

And in those trusts, the longest waits are centred on particular specialities, such as gynaecology or orthopaedics.

Now, we are giving patients who have waited longest the choice to transfer to another provider.

But that cannot be the only solution.

And so, my ministers and I are working with NHS England to support those trusts to improve, but also to hold them to account.

In urgent and emergency care, it’s a similar story.

In January, just 15 trusts made up over half of the hours lost to ambulance handover delays, and just 13 trusts met the interim target to deal with 76 per cent of urgent and emergency patients within four hours.

This can – and must – change.

We have a range of tools to help trusts. From support from NHSE, to lending resources and people as well as peer support.

Because we all recognise that is often the best way to drive up standards.

And there should be rewards for success.

That’s why NHS England will once again offer additional capital funding to Trusts who exceed their emergency targets.

And if I may, I have been concerned when I hear of a few, only a few, ICB leaders who apparently do not consider it part of their job to speak to local Members of Parliament, people who represent local communities, or to explain their funding decisions.

As someone who is – I promise you – very accountable to the public, we have to recognise that as public services are funded by the public, for the public, that attitude is not acceptable and must change.

Now, as part of my focus on spending taxpayers’ money well, I am bringing commercial expertise into the Department of Health and Social Care to help drive results for us as a department.

Steve Rowe, the former CEO of Marks and Spencer, has led a lot of work within the department to streamline our processes.

And today, I’m delighted to announce that Steve is joining the department as one of our Non-Executive Directors, with a remit to accelerate delivery, and ensure the productivity plan, which is fully funded, improves care throughout England.

Conclusion

Now, I started my speech with young people – and the pressures they face – but also the need to meet the future with confidence.

We can do this.

We are standing on the cusp of a medical revolution, here technology, personalised therapies, and better data can transform outcomes for a generation who are more health conscious than any that came before them.

The NHS, and indeed we, must seize this opportunity and look to the future – not restrict ourselves to what has always been done.

In fact, it needs to have, to borrow a phrase, an M&S moment.

This much-loved British brand, a stalwart of our high street for decades, realised change was needed, and embraced modernity.

Pivoting towards the next generation, winning them over, and securing its long-term future.

This is what the NHS needs to do to make sure it’s there for the next 75 years, just as it has been there for us.

And as I’ve seen on visits to hospitals, GPs, dentists, and pharmacies up and down the country, the people working in the NHS have the drive, the dedication, and the determination to build a brighter future, and therefore support a stronger economy for the next generation.

In conclusion, this is because this isn’t just any health service, it’s our National Health Service.

Thank you all very much.

The speech made by Victoria Atkins, the Health and Social Care Secretary, on 17 January 2024.

Thank you so very much everyone.

Can I just say, I’ve been looking forward to today.

Because, apologies gents, but I view this as a sort of feminist’s Christmas.

So, it is a genuine pleasure to be here with you all. I know there are incredible leaders here in what we are trying to achieve in women’s health.

There are women in this room who are midwives, nurses, doctors, healthcare professionals and leaders.

There are women who do amazing work through charities.

There are women who campaign on issues.

And, of course, there are women here who have told their stories, in public, so that others know that they are not alone.

And to all of you, I say thank you.

You are making our NHS a better service for us all.

And I also want to promise you that I get it.

Because women’s health and maternity care is one of my top priorities as Health Secretary.

Because we are more than half the population, and our healthcare matters. Not just to us as individuals, but to our families and wider society.

Now, as Maria rightly said, we have already come a long way, and transformed many lives by driving forward the Women’s Health Strategy we launched some 18 months ago.

But together, we can go further still.

I want to reform our NHS and care system to make it faster, simpler and fairer for all of us – and that includes women.

Because for me this is personal.

The NHS diagnosed me with type 1 diabetes at the age of 3.

So, I have seen the very best of the NHS.

But I have also seen some of its darker corners.

One of those darker corners was when I was pregnant.

As the clinicians in the room will understand, pregnancy with type 1 diabetes can be a very medicalised process. And there came a point in the pregnancy when it became clear that the baby was going to have to be delivered early.

And so, I was rushed into hospital – and the hospital that looked after me amazingly well simply did not, at that point, have the facilities to look after someone who was both very early in pregnancy, but also with complications.

And so they put me in a ward with women who had just given birth – literally rushed from theatre – who had had very traumatic experiences.

And you will understand how deeply worrying – and dare I say it, frightening – it was to be lying in that ward with women who had gone through, frankly, a hellish experience. Who were in agony, who were needing very urgent medical treatment.

And for me to be there ready to have my baby.

Looking back, I know that everybody was doing their best.

But I desperately want to ensure that women who are expecting, and who find themselves needing a bit of extra help are not in that situation, and they’re not facing the fear that I faced.

So, I absolutely get it.

And it is very much personal for me.

But I want to set out some of the policies this year that will help light the way to better health and happiness for women.

And I’m going to start with a number.

Two hundred and ninety three.

From the independent research published last week, that is the number of women who died in pregnancy or within 42 days of the end of pregnancy in the 3 years between 2020 and 2022.

That number means that 293 families are grieving the profound loss of a mother – who will also be someone’s daughter, partner, wife, sister or friend.

And their babies who have lived – their loss is indescribable.

They will never know the warmth of their mother’s cuddle.

The tinkle of her laughter.

Or the limitless love that we have for our children.

Not all of these deaths are linked to poor maternity care, but many will be.

And this must stop.

Important, and frankly stark, reviews into maternity services have identified how, why and where mistakes happen and harm is done.

And in response, NHS England has set out a large programme of work to tackle this through its maternity and neonatal services plan.

This includes the establishment of 14 maternal medicine networks across England. Which will ensure that women with medical conditions that pre-date, or develop during pregnancy, from cardiac disease to diabetes, all receive the specialist care they need.

Fairer access to services must be achieved, and underperforming trusts must shape up.

To achieve this, a Maternity Safety Support Programme is giving underperforming trusts assistance before serious safety issues arise.

And I will give these and other measures my full backing to support families, and to end preventable maternal and baby deaths.

Because the birth of a child should be among the happiest moments of our lives.

And for the overwhelming majority of families, of course – it is.

We want this for every woman, and every family.

But this commitment also requires a laser-like focus on birth trauma.

Some mums endure simply unacceptable care and live with the consequences of that trauma for the rest of their lives.

Some have told their stories to the media – harrowing experiences of tears, prolapses, operations and agony.

They’ve done this because they want to shine a light on the impact of such experiences.

Some of those amazing mums are here today in the audience.

You deserve our thanks, our admiration and our applause.

And the importance of women speaking up for other women is demonstrated through the work of my colleague, Theo Clarke, the MP for Stafford.

Theo suffered a horribly traumatic birth. And when she regained her strength, and returned to work, she called a debate in the House of Commons on birth trauma.

This was the first debate on birth trauma in the centuries that we have had a Parliament, and this shows some of the journey we still have to travel.

And when you spoke, Theo, women around the country heard you and responded – sharing their stories too.

Theo is now leading an inquiry into birth trauma on behalf of Parliament, with the backing of the Birth Trauma Association, and I encourage any mother who has been through a traumatic birth to share their story with this inquiry.

But I am impatient, and I want to see progress quickly.

We recognise that pregnancy and birth can take an enormous mental and emotional toll, particularly if a woman has to deal with physical illness too.

This was demonstrated in the case of a young woman who passed away when extreme pregnancy sickness left her unable to eat, drink or complete daily tasks.

Thanks to the advocacy of her MP, Sara Britcliffe, and others, specialist maternal mental health services will be available to women in every part of England by March.

So, thank you Sara, and thank you to all the women who have campaigned for that.

And we want to take care of the physical injuries caused in traumatic childbirths, which is why we are rolling out comprehensive physical care for those who experience serious tears during childbirth by March as well.

But sometimes, a simple and thoughtful question is what is needed.

“Are you ok, Mum?”

This year, every woman who gives birth will be offered a comprehensive check-up with their GP within 8 weeks, focused solely on her mental and physical health – in other words, asking her whether she’s ok.

Now, the baby girls born to these amazing women in our NHS will of course grow up into young women.

For most girls and women, starting our periods is a part of life.

It’s an extra thing we have to think about. It’s annoying at times, it’s sometimes painful, but it isn’t life-impacting.

For some girls and women, however, their periods are a time of severe pain and exhaustion which they come to dread because of the impact it has on their lives.

Painful periods and conditions such as endometriosis can stop girls and women from living their lives to the full – preventing them from going to school or to work, playing sport, from meeting their friends, or even starting a family.

We are going to hear from Emma Cox later about her work to educate us all about endometriosis.

But she and I have already met, when in my previous role, I was Financial Secretary to the Treasury.

Now. in that role, I was responsible for the UK’s tax system. And it tended to involve rather dry discussions about the interpretation of tax law.

So, after I’d settled in, I decided to bring a little more human into the Treasury – which is a very imposing institution.

And it turns out that the Treasury can do human.

Because last year, at the 2 fiscal events, the Chancellor announced the removal of VAT on period pants.

And also asked the Office for National Statistics to investigate the impact of endometriosis on women’s employment, so that we can find solutions to ensure that we are helping them to live to their full potential.

This is a groundbreaking piece of work and is part of the government’s commitment to ensuring women can lead full and fulfilling careers.

And to mark that announcement, I invited Emma and women living with endometriosis into Number 11 Downing Street, so their voices were heard at the very centre of government.

A few months later as Health Secretary, I am proud that we will build better guidance on endometriosis for healthcare professionals, so they can offer women the right treatment at the right time.

But periods and pregnancy go together.

We should also be able to control when and if we fall pregnant.

We have therefore made contraception more accessible through our Pharmacy First programme.

From December, oral contraception is now available on more high streets, using our pharmacists to their full potential – making it faster, simpler and fairer for women to access this healthcare.

We will also roll out long-lasting contraception through women’s health hubs – which brings me onto our next priority.

We will expand women’s health hubs so that every integrated care system has at least one hub up and running.

So that women across England will be able to benefit from faster, simpler and fairer comprehensive care for menstrual problems, menopause, conditions such as endometriosis and contraception.

We will also make sure hubs provide care that meets more women’s needs.

Whether that’s making it quicker and easier to access long-acting reversible contraception, like coils and implants.

Or setting up information sessions and consultations to help women understand their menopause.

Or facilitating smooth and speedy referrals to specialist hospital treatment whenever it’s needed.

Women’s health hubs benefit women and they benefit our NHS.

They boost efficiency, they reduce unnecessary hospital referrals and they end the obstacle course of appointments women face to find the care they need.

This is why we support them, and this is why we are expanding them.

I have already said that I want to reform our NHS and social care system to be faster, simpler and fairer.

And that point about fairness is shown shockingly in maternity.

Black women are almost 3 times more likely to die while giving birth, or shortly after, than white women.

Women of Asian ethnic backgrounds are 1.67 times more likely to die while giving birth, or shortly after, than white women.

In modern Britain, this is absolutely unacceptable.

And I want to thank the Women and Equalities Select Committee for carrying out an inquiry and amplifying this issue.

We are serious about ending maternity disparities. And I have confidence that we will do this.

Not only because of the intensive work in the NHS that I have set out, but also because of our unique status on the international stage.

The world is on the cusp of a healthcare revolution.

Researchers are discovering answers to the largest and most intractable healthcare issues facing all developed economies.

The UK is at the front of this race.

We are genuinely a world leader in life sciences.

We have the largest life sciences industry in Europe, and businesses around the world are moving to the UK because of the tax and investment regimes we have built over the last decade to encourage them.

And I am delighted to welcome pioneers in femtech here today.

But we want to go further and faster.

So, I am delighted to announce the launch of the first ever Research Challenge, worth £50 million, to tackle maternity disparities from the National Institute for Health and Care Research, the research arm of the Department of Health and Social Care.

This spring, the call will go out to research teams for their ideas.

By autumn, they will be innovating together, finding ways to give mums a helping hand before, during and after pregnancy.

And I am hugely optimistic about what this can achieve. And this is just one of the projects we are funding to improve women’s health.

Recently, I met 2 inspiring women who have been diagnosed with an aggressive and very difficult to diagnose form of breast cancer.

Lobular breast cancer accounts for 15% of breast cancers, yet far more research is needed into its symptoms and treatments.

Thanks to their campaigning, and the support of their MPs Jeremy Quin and Dehenna Davison, we will encourage more research into lobular breast cancer and other under-researched women’s health issues. As well as conditions that affect women and men differently, such as heart attacks.

So that the symptoms we suffer from are recognised as symptoms that are perhaps different to the symptoms men would suffer from.

It is precisely because we have such an established system of healthcare and research, with committed workforces and plans for how to meet these challenges, that I am confident about the future.

We are making long-term decisions to support, strengthen and safeguard the health and wellbeing of women up and down the country.

And my ministerial colleague and friend, Maria, has done so much to bring about real change for women. From new women’s health hubs to HRT for less than £20 a year.

She does this while still practising as a nurse.

So, an enormous thank you to Maria.

Thank you for everything you do as an MP, and as a minister, and as a nurse.

But there is another woman I would like to thank as well, our Women’s Health Ambassador, Dame Lesley Regan.

I know Dame Lesley is raring to do even more than she has already achieved.

And so, I am very pleased to confirm that we are reappointing Dame Lesley as our Women’s Health Ambassador for another 2 years.

Thank you, Dame Lesley.

So, this is our 5-point plan for women’s health.

Maternity care that every mother can have faith in.

Better care for menstrual problems.

More women’s health hubs offering more treatments.

Improving fairness and tackling inequalities and disparities.

And more research into the health needs of women.

In my very first speech as Health and Social Care Secretary, I said I was an optimist.

And I remain an optimist.

I’m optimistic about Britain’s long-term future, I’m optimistic about our NHS, and I’m optimistic about what the Women’s Health Strategy can achieve in 2024.

By working together, we can build an NHS that is faster, simpler, and fairer for women across the country.

And build a future that is brighter for our children and grandchildren.

I want to thank you all for helping us achieve this – thank you very much.