Press release
Progress on women’s health in 2022 under the Women’s Health Action Plan
From Department of Health
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of Health
Published on
Last updated on
The Women’s Health Action Plan 2022-2023, launched on International Women’s Day (8 March 2022), is a fully funded strategy for improving women’s health in Ireland. Budget 2022 ring-fenced €31 million in funding for new Developments for Women’s Health. To date, the Women's Health Action Fund has supported significant advancements in a range of priority areas.
Reviewing the work done on Women’s Health in 2022, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said:
“The Women’s Health Action Plan and Fund launched in March 2022 have made a significant difference to women’s healthcare in 2022, addressing all stages of a woman’s life. This plan, with dedicated funding, is an innovative approach to women’s health care and is successfully tackling some difficult challenges. I am confident this plan has had a significant positive impact in 2022 and I look forward to building on this progress in 2023.”
The free contraception scheme for women aged 17-25 was launched in September 2022. The scheme covers the cost of consultations with GPs and family planning centres, prescriptions, long-acting reversible contraceptive fittings, removals, injections and check-ups, emergency contraception and more. Over 2,200 GPs and 1,850 pharmacies have signed up to provide services and products under the scheme to date. The scheme will be expanded on 1 January to include 26 year-old women, and expanded further, later in the year, to include women aged 30 and under.
Phase One of the Model of Care for Fertility established secondary care level Regional Fertility Hubs, which can manage an estimated 50%-70% of patients presenting with fertility-related issues at secondary care level. Five of the six Regional Fertility Hubs are open and operational. The sixth Regional Fertility Hub, located at Nenagh General Hospital (under the governance of University Maternity Hospital Limerick), is due to open in 2023.
The HSE’s National Women & Infants Health Programme progressed the development of a National Framework for Endometriosis Care in Ireland in collaboration with the Irish College of General Practitioners. This Framework will identify how care for women in this area needs to be delivered, spanning primary care to local hospital care to specialist complex care.
Budget 2022 funding is facilitating the establishment of 2 supra-regional specialist centres for complex care for endometriosis. Funding is enabling the expansion of the endometriosis services at Tallaght University Hospital as well as the establishment of a new service for more complex endometriosis cases at Cork University Maternity Hospital, which is progressing. Services for the management of endometriosis at the Coombe hospital were also expanded.
In April 2022, the Minister announced funding for six additional interdisciplinary teams to support holistic treatment of endometriosis within each of the hospital networks. These will form a network of regional endometriosis hub services that will co-ordinate care within their respective Hospital Groups and support the complex services in Tallaght and Cork.
€600,000 from the Women’s Health Fund supported information and awareness around HPV vaccine, data collection on HPV vaccine uptake and the development of a portal to support access for women registering for the vaccine.
Funding of €0.71 million was allocated to combat Period Poverty in Budget 2022. The most urgent focus was on reaching those most in need (e.g., the homeless, those living with addiction, minorities including Traveller and Roma women, and those experiencing consistent poverty). In 2022, 26 Local Authorities were funded to progress the period dignity support programme. 17 NGOs, including family resource centres and those serving people living with addiction, homelessness, consistent poverty and other vulnerable groups were also allocated funding. Some Local Authorities were allocated additional top-up funding, following initial reporting of successful implementation.
The Healthy Ireland Survey 2022 published 5 December 2022 contained, for the first time, a module on menstrual health and period poverty which provides a robust evidence base for future period poverty initiatives. 24% of women reported having experienced at least one indicator of period poverty and 51% reported being unable to partake in activities of daily life on occasion, resulting from period symptoms.
The Healthy Ireland Survey 2019 showed that women were less active than men; and mothers were less active than fathers and non-parents. The Women’s Health Fund, through Healthy Ireland, provided €300,000 to fund a campaign, It’s My Time, for women over 40 who feel like there’s just not enough time to add movement, exercise and pastimes into their day-to-day lives and responsibilities. The campaign launched on 23 November 2022, running for two weeks, and will continue in early January 2023.
The first of six dedicated specialist menopause clinics opened in the National Maternity Hospital in December 2021. A second clinic opened in May 2022, within the University of Limerick Hospital Group, located in the new Regional Women’s Health Hub at Nenagh General Hospital. A third clinic in the Rotunda opened in October 2022. The fourth and fifth clinics opened in November 2022 at University Hospital Galway and the Coombe. A sixth clinic will open in Cork in 2023. This will provide 6 specialist menopause clinics nationwide, one in each maternity network, for women who require complex, specialist care.
In October 2022, Minister Donnelly launched the first Irish national campaign for Menopause Awareness. And the Department of Health developed gov.ie/menopause, a one-stop website for information about menopause and menopause symptoms, advice on proactive management, how to support someone going through menopause and links to appropriate clinical expertise.
In September 2022, the Minister invested in a suite of initiatives for cancer screening, including €0.75 million invested in improving uptake among marginalised women, listening and responding to women's experience of BreastCheck and piloting a new national screening pathway for women with diabetes who become pregnant.
During 2022, The Women’s Health Fund responded to a number of key areas in Mental Health, investing €1.9 million to accelerate the development of a range of services to support women and girls. These included increasing 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.
€500,000 from the Women’s Health Fund funded improvements to healthcare services and actions to address the social determinants of health for Traveller women who experience homelessness and who are transitioning to independent living.
To improve access to services and ensure a more sustainable gynaecology service, a network of one-stop, “see and treat” clinics is being established which could treat approximately 70% of general gynaecology referrals in the ambulatory setting. Each “one-stop” visit would provide a package of care consisting of assessment and treatment for each woman referred. These clinics will have a direct positive impact on gynaecology waiting lists at local and national level, as women will be identified, triaged and directed to have their treatment in an ambulatory setting. A network of twenty clinics is being developed nationally, twelve clinics are now open.
€270,000 from the Women’s Health Fund funded the development, in partnership with the Irish College of General Practitioners and the National Women and Infants Health Programme, of primary care supports for women’s health. This included menopause educational supports and gender sensitivity training for GPs and healthcare workers, a “Shared Information” service to improve information available to women, research on the sustainability of GP as a career for female GPs and a Quick Reference Guide on Breastfeeding to improve supports for women in the community.
Budget 2023 has allocated funding for: