Help shape the future of Women’s and Girls' Health in South East London

We would like to understand how women and girls in south east London wish to engage with and access healthcare. This will help inform the development of Women's and Girls' Health Hubs in South East London.

How do we listen to you?

Over the last few months, we have been working with our partner organisations and listening to local women and girls from diverse communities across south east London to understand more about the health needs of local women and girls.

We were keen to hear from people about:

• What health services and support are most important to women and girls in your community?
• How can these services be delivered so they are easier to access?
• How can we ensure women and girls across our diverse communities have access to knowledge and information about their health and wellbeing - including where to go and how to know if they might need support from a healthcare professional?
• What are the barriers you and other women and girls in your community face in relation to health?
• What could we do to remove these barriers so that everyone can access the care and support they need, regardless of where they live or their situation?

1. We invited local women and girls' feedback through an online survey and conversation forum. We received 1,434 responses, and we would like to thank everyone who participated and contributed to our survey and forum conversations.
2. We attended several face-to-face community events.

• Ageing Well fair - Lambeth
• South East London College - Welcoming Fair, Bexley Campus
• South East London College - Welcoming Fair, Bromley Campus
• Ronald McDonald House
• Lambeth College – Freshers fair, Clapham Campus
• Lambeth College – Freshers fair, Nine Elms Campus
• Greenwich Islamic Centre
• South Asian Heritage Festival – Bexley
• The Latin American Women’s Rights Service (LAWRS) and Indo-American Refugee and Migrant Organisation (IRMO) workshop

The outreach approach aimed to complement the insight collated via the online survey and conversation forum. These sessions allowed us to hear from over 250 local women and girls. We focused on listening to young people (16-25) and communities facing barriers to care and experiencing health inequalities, such as South Asian, Black African, Black Caribbean, and Latin American.

Survey and outreach key insight and recommendations

• There is a strong demand for a full range of sexual and reproductive health services and clear pathways
• Women and girls would welcome an offer of a comprehensive ‘MOT’ check-up
• More integration of point-of-care testing for quick diagnostics and signposting is needed
• Services should focus on those who need them most, guided by data and feedback
• A virtual hub triage function could better direct patients to appropriate services
• Care navigation support (virtual or in-person) to help residents navigate complex health and care pathways
• Extended hours and community-based services to increase engagement
• Focus on building trust and relationships within communities
• Culturally sensitive services and outreach
• Translation and accessible knowledge for specific groups and communities is critical
• Emphasis on digital accessibility for health information and education
• Recognition of the need for both digital and face-to-face options
• Engaging with young people and improving health literacy and education on specific topics can be done, but the channels we currently use may not be the most effective
• Collaboration with schools and youth-based organisations is important for engagement
  
  3. In the first week of November 2024, the team organised two focus groups with residents interested in supporting our work.
  
  • Monday, 4th November, 12:30 pm – 2 pm
  • Wednesday, 6th November, 6 pm – 7:30 pm

These sessions were a good opportunity to continue the conversations and allowing us to test proposed solutions. These sessions aim to explore: people's experiences with women's and girls’ health services, barriers to accessing healthcare, challenges faced by women and girls in our community. You can see the focus groups conversation presentation here.

Participants shared their experiences with regards to accessing healthcare, highlighting the need for better diagnose and treatment for issues like menstrual health and pelvic floor issues. These discussions showed a strong need for more accessible and personalised care.

Often Google, NHS websites, and other online sources for health information are first people access when in need. However, some participants found these sources unreliable. Many said they would benefit from better access to trustworthy, easy-to-understand health information.

Participants suggested improving the NHS App to make it more useful for accessing a wide range of health details as many people have already access to it.

During the discussions participants raised some on the challenges, such as limited appointments for services like contraception, menopause support and pelvic floor care. Cultural and demographic factors also impact how some women access healthcare, highlighting the need for tailored services that consider different backgrounds and needs.

Focus groups key recommendations

• Improve the NHS App for easier access to health information
• Address cultural barriers in healthcare services
• Ensure healthcare planning meets the needs of diverse communities
• Increase community outreach and engagement, especially for underrepresented groups

Next steps

Context

We want to change how women's and girls' health is delivered in our communities so that it meets the needs of those who need it most.

As part of a national Women’s Health Strategy*, there has been a commitment to developing ‘women's health hubs’. Women's health hubs aim to:

• join up health and care services in the community
• help more women to have access to information in an easy-to-understand and culturally appropriate way to make decisions about their health and well-being
• support women with 'related health issues' to be seen in the right setting, by the right professional, at the right time.

*While the Women's Health Strategy refers to women, some people who do not identify as women will also require access to and may benefit from care in women’s health hubs. These groups will also have specific needs and experiences which will be considered.

You can find out more about the National Women’s Health Strategy here.

Read more about why this is an important piece of work, the national context, and the services required to be in the hub.