David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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1590. To ask the Minister for Health the status of the development of a women’s health action plan to tackle a wide range of issues impacting women’s health outcomes in Ireland as committed to under the current Programme for Government. [1049/22]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Improving women’s health outcomes is a key priority for me and this Government. We made a strong commitment to Promoting Women’s Health in the Programme for Government and are fully committed to the development and improvement of Women’s Health services and to working with women and girls to improve their health across the whole life cycle.

This commitment has been reflected within Budget 2022, in the allocation of €31 million for new development funding to specifically support women’s health.

Budget 2022 will:

- Invest almost €9 million additional funding to ensure continued implementation of the National Maternity Strategy into 2022 and beyond, building on the significant investment in 2021  

- Continue improvements in our gynaecology services by establishing a further 6 ambulatory gynaecology "see and treat" clinics, bringing the total to 20 clinics nationally 

- Investment to fund access to contraception for women aged 17-25  

- Support further developments in menopause care by increasing the number of specialist menopause clinics from 1 clinic to 4 clinics nationally 

- Increase investment in sexual assault treatment units

- Invest in tackling period poverty for the first time 

- Funding for the establishment of a new Obstetric Event Support Team

- Funding to establish a perinatal genetics service

- Build on initiatives started in 2021, by further expanding specialist endometriosis services for more complex cases across two centres

- Invest an additional €5 million into the Women’s Health Fund to fund innovative new approaches to women’s health services nationwide  

In addition, a further €16m in other measures to support women's health has been embedded within other new measures for 2022 within the Health Vote in areas such as cancer, mental health and social inclusion budgets, bringing the overall investment in women's health to €47m in additional funding provided for 2022.

Underscoring the government’s commitment to Women’s Health has been the establishment of a Women’s Health Taskforce in September 2019 to improve both health outcomes and experiences of healthcare for women and girls. The Women’s Health Fund, a dedicated fund established in 2021 and managed by the Women's Health Taskforce, has supported this aim through funding specific initiatives in identified priority areas through its initial €5 million allocation. Priority programmes for women’s health are reviewed and regularly updated as part of an action planning process. Funded activity to date includes a specialist menopause clinic in the National Maternity Hospital, two ambulatory gynaecology clinics, and enhanced service provision in areas like endometriosis, perinatal mental health and specialist centre for paediatric and adolescent gynaecology services.

The dedicated ‘Women’s Health Fund’ has received an additional €5 million allocation in Budget 2022. This provides the foundation for a fully funded action programme on Women’s Health in 2022, which will be brought to government in the coming weeks. Informed by the available evidence and engagement with women across the country, key stakeholders, clinicians, and advocates for women’s health, the action plan will outline measures needed to tackle a wide range of issues impacting women’s health in outcomes in Ireland.

Women’s health will continue to be a priority for me and this government.