Healthtech Pigeon What can we learn from the government's new women's health strategy?
Oct 26, 2025
Helen Surana, Editor at The BMJ with a focus on health systems, discusses the renewed Women's Health Strategy with Belle Taylor. They delve into the pressing need for reform, revealing alarming delays in women's care and the systemic inequities faced. They also explore groundbreaking research on menstrual blood tests for endometriosis, the significance of community-driven solutions, and the innovative funding behind Cyclana Bio's unique tissue-level drug discovery. This conversation highlights the intersection of health policy and technology driving change.
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Systemic Failures In Women's Health
- Women's health faces systemic delays: huge waiting lists and extremely long diagnostic times for conditions like endometriosis.
- Maternal mortality inequalities persist, especially for Black women, showing deep structural failures.
Tech Needs System Alignment To Work
- Alignment between health systems, clinicians, and patient needs is essential to make tech and research effective.
- Without clinician involvement and systemic change, innovations become slow, frustrating, and underused.
Ask Period Questions And Use Jess's Rule
- Ask routine menstrual and menopause questions during health checks to catch problems earlier.
- Use Jess's rule: refer after three GP visits for the same unresolved problem to avoid dangerous delays.
