Introduction

Women make up 51%¹ of the population, 47% of the workforce² and women related concerns account for an estimated one in four consultations in primary care.

A woman’s life-course from menarche, through her reproductive years to menopause and beyond is a normal process but is different for each woman requiring holistic individual assessment, management and support:

• Many women suffer from menstrual related issues; pre-menstrual symptoms, heavy and/or painful menstruation, which impact on their ability to concentrate or function at home and work.
• At any point three quarters of women of reproductive age are wanting to prevent a pregnancy with 45% of pregnancies being unplanned3 and one in seven couples having conception delay⁴.
• Being menopausal is inevitable with 80% of women experiencing symptoms and over 40% saying these were worse than expected⁵.

This Women’s Health Hub is categorized into sections best representing the needs of women at different stages of their lives, while recognising that there is much overlap. The three sections are reproductive health, menstrual wellbeing, menopause and beyond. Each section includes resources for healthcare professionals, women and commissioners to help optimize the care provided and to support women to make choices about self-care and management.

This project is a result of joint working between the RCGP, Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Health, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG), the British Menopause Society, the Royal College of Nursing, Public Health England, and Endometriosis UK. The project has been supported by Medtronic and further joint working has developed the women’s health library where many other resources and reference documents can be found.