Written question WQ98859

The Women’s health Plan sets out eight priority areas, with over 60 short-, medium- and long-term actions to be delivered over a 10-year period.

During the first year of delivery the following actions were completed:

· A pathfinder Women’s Health Hub was opened in each health board by March 2026.

· Progress has been made in upskilling the NHS workforce in women’s health. Across all health board areas, staff were trained in areas such as menopause, sexual health and long-acting reversible contraception fitting.

· School learning materials – to support young people and school nurses to talk about a wide range of conditions which affect women and girls, were developed in collaboration with school nurses and young people, ensuring the materials work for them.

· Women’s Health Research Wales – a women’s health research centre was launched.

· Innovation through the women’s health challenge, funding four projects that are real-world demonstrations of ways to improve outcomes for women and girls.

· Health Education and Improvement Wales developed training, which is accessible to all NHS staff, about a range of specific conditions, including endometriosis, menopause and contraception.

· Development and launch of a new co-produced Women’s Health website.

A Theory of Change for the Women’s Health Plan is being developed and will be used to monitor progress with the Plan over the 10-year period.

The establishment of the pathfinder Women’s health Hubs was a key action in 2025/26. Three priority areas were determined for the initial phase of the hubs: menstrual health, contraception and menopause. A formative evaluation of the implementation of the hubs has been commissioned and will report later this year. The learning from the implementation phase will inform further developments of the hub services.

I recognise the importance of properly evaluating the hubs and will be commissioning further evaluation work in the future.

I will be working to strengthen the Women’s Health Plan and we will continue to deliver against the Plan.