FSRH Press Release: Healthcare leaders and charities gather to support actions on women’s reproductive health in the first Hatfield Vision Taskforce Meeting

Over 40 representatives from leading organisations and groups across healthcare, public health and the charity sector met today at the first meeting of the FSRH Hatfield Vision Taskforce.

A year ago, the Faculty of Sexual & Reproductive Healthcare (FSRH) launched the FSRH Hatfield Vision – a policy blueprint aiming to build consensus among stakeholders across the system on how we can maximise Government commitments – including the Women’s Health Strategy. While great progress has been made, including the introduction of a dedicated Women’s Health Strategy, there is still much to be done; particularly the creation of an SRH Action Plan as committed to by the Government in 2019.  

To drive the goals of the Vision forward, FSRH established the Vision Taskforce. Made up of representatives from the 47 organisations endorsing the Vision, along with senior stakeholders from Government, the Taskforce aims to bring the sector together and leverage specialist experience to deliver on the aims of the FSRH Hatfield Vision.  

The inaugural meeting of the Taskforce was held yesterday in the FSRH Offices. The meeting was chaired by, Dr Janet Barter, President of the Faculty of Sexual & Reproductive Healthcare, with Dr Ranee Thakar, President of the Royal College and Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG), and Dr Michael Mulholland, the Royal College of General Practitioners’ (RCGP) Honorary Secretary and Women’s Health Lead, serving as Vice Chairs.  

Dame Lesley Regan, the Government’s Women's Health Ambassador for England, was in attendance , alongside many other senior stakeholders, including from DHSC, NHSE, OHID, LGA, RCOG, RCGP and RCN. The attendees discussed how best to realise the Vision’s goals, including building consensus on initial priority areas, and discussing the urgent issues of access and standards of contraceptive care, access to emergency contraception, and access to abortion. 

Dr Janet Barter, President of the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare (FSRH), said: 

“I am thrilled that the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare is launching the FSRH Hatfield Vision Taskforce, a significant step in improving access to sexual and reproductive healthcare for women, girls, and those assigned female at birth.

Women and girls consistently face inequalities in their reproductive health outcomes, as well as in their access to services. Contraception, abortion, menstrual healthcare, and other areas of women’s health are neglected within the health system, with their provision being fragmented and disjointed across different providers.   

We need to change this fragmentation, and work with all sector stakeholders towards a comprehensive solution. The FSRH Hatfield Vision Taskforce is a significant step in this direction, as we can harness our respective organisational expertise to drive the goals and actions of the Hatfield Vision. This forum for cross-sector collaboration will allow us to aid in reducing the gendered inequalities in reproductive health outcomes and service provision”.

 
 
ENDS 
For further information, please contact: Lorna Kelly, External Affairs Manager, at lkelly@fsrh.org 

Notes to Editors 
The FSRH Hatfield Vision can be downloaded here.

The FSRH Hatfield Vision is endorsed by:

• Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (AoMRC) 
• All Party Parliamentary Group on Sexual and Reproductive Health 
• All Party Parliamentary Group on Menopause 
• Association of Directors of Public Health (ADPH) 
• Bayer UK 
• British Association of Dermatologists 
• British Association of Sexual Health and HIV (BASHH) 
• British Medical Association (BMA) 
• British Menopause Society (BMS) 
• British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) 
• British Society of Abortion Care Providers (BSACP) 
• Brook 
• Company Chemists' Association (CCA) 
• Doctors for Choice 
• Endometriosis UK 
• English HIV & Sexual Health National Commissioners Group 
• Faculty of Public Health (FPH) 
• Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine (FPM) 
• Fair Treatment for the Women of Wales (FTWW) 
• Fertility Network UK 
• Humanists UK 
• IRISi
• Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust 
• Local Government Association (LGA) 
• Medical Women's Federation (MWF) 
• Mothers for Mothers 
• MSI Reproductive Choices UK 
• NAM aidsmap 
• National AIDS Trust (NAT) 
• National Pharmacy Association (NPA) 
• National Unplanned Pregnancy Advisory Service (NUPAS) 
• Organon UK 
• Perrigo 
• Primary Care Women's Health Forum (PCWHF) 
• Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) 
• Royal College of Midwives (RCM) 
• Royal College of Nursing (RCN) 
• Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) 
• Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh 
• Sex Education Forum (SEF) 
• Teenage Pregnancy Knowledge Exchange (TPKE) 
• The Eve Appeal 
• The Lowdown 
• UK Preconception Partnership 
• UK Clinical Pharmacy Association Women’s Health Committee 
• Wellbeing of Women 
• Women's Equality Network (WEN) Wales 

The Vision features 16 goals in the following areas:

1. Ability to choose if and when to have children 
2. Access and standards of contraceptive care 
3. Access to preconception care 
4. Access to menstrual health support 
5. Access and standards of abortion care 
6. Access to cervical screening 
7. Access to menopause care 
8. Maternal health outcomes in black women and women of colour 
9. Access to information 

It also features 10 priority actions in the following areas: 

Action 1. Community SRH specialty training posts are fully funded, with one new fully funded specialty training post per Health Education England region for the next three years, to provide local leadership, training and governance to SRH workforce and services. 

Action 2. The Primary Care workforce is adequately resourced to provide LARC fittings, removals and training. Local contracts should fully cover the costs of provision, training and maintaining access to this essential service. 

Action 3. Service specifications for specialist SRH services are designed to include training requirements in their contracts. 

Action 4. The NHS and ICS are mandated to collaboratively commission SRH with local authorities, and contracts with care providers require them to adhere to nationally-recognised quality standards such as FSRH’s Standards for Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare Services. 

Action 5. A National Clinical Director for women’s reproductive health or a National Specialty Adviser in SRH, or similar, is appointed, who would hold accountability for the commissioning and outcomes of women’s reproductive health. 

Action 6. A women’s health lead, with accountability for reproductive health, is appointed in every ICS Board to ensure that holistic women’s reproductive health is prioritised in ICS strategies. 

Action 7. A national digital service platform is developed for SRH, which will serve as a one-stop point of access for the public and will support the maintenance of access to essential SRH care, operating seamlessly with existing regional / local digital offers. 

Action 8. The London Measure of Unplanned Pregnancy is introduced as the standard national measure of unplanned pregnancy. 

Action 9. The Department of Education signposts teachers to reliable and evidence-based information on issues across the breadth of SRH, to support effective implementation of statutory relationships and sex education guidance. 

Action 10. Providers are well resourced to ensure that service staff use every contact with patients and the public to promote positive SRH and wellbeing in accordance with Making Every Contact Count principles. 
 
About FSRH 
The Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare (FSRH) is the leader in the field of sexual and reproductive healthcare, and we are the voice for professionals working in this area. As a multi-disciplinary professional membership organisation, we set clinical guidance and standards, provide training and lifelong education, and champion safe and effective sexual and reproductive healthcare across the life course for all.