The Health Collective is an initiative led by Wellbeing of Women, made up of healthcare professionals and grassroots organisations working in the women’s health space, with the aim to improve healthcare for marginalised women and people registered female at birth. FTWW’s Dee was delighted to attend this year’s annual meeting in London on 12th November.
Co-Chair, Dr Nighat Arif, delivered the welcome session before attendees carried out a branding review and feedback session. After lunch and networking, the Collective was joined by Kendall Jamieson Gilmore from the UK Government Department of Health and Social Care, who is part of the team working on the UK Government’s Women’s Health Strategy.
Dee was keen to know if the UK and Welsh Government teams are collaborating on their respective plans, not least in ways that will reduce the many barriers that exist for Welsh patients who might need to access care from outside their health board and in England. We will continue to raise this issue as a key driver of health inequity experienced by so many of those we support, including as part of our involvement in the implementation of the 10-year NHS Wales Women’s Health Plan.
Attendees then discussed what is needed from the next phase of the UK Government’s Women’s Health Strategy, followed by a session on finding solutions to common problems.
FTWW was the only Welsh organisation in the room, so we will be collaborating with the Health Collective to ensure that more Welsh grassroots organisations are invited to join. In the meantime, you can find out more about the Collective and how to get involved.
Feedback from other Health Collective members included gratitude for our input from which they learned so much; many hadn’t realised there were so many differences between the NHS systems in devolved nations, and – from Dr Nighat – that the conversations were much richer from our attendance and contributions.
Our huge thanks to the Collective team for ensuring that our involvement was made possible and accessible.
English (UK) 
Cymraeg