Missed opportunities for women living with arthritis in the Revised Women’s Health Strategy for England

Some progress, but not enough on women's MSK health

This week, the Government relaunched its Women’s Health Strategy for England, with Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, acknowledging the NHS is ‘failing women’. A staggering 12 million women across the UK are affected by musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions. The refreshed strategy does finally acknowledge this although it doesn’t go far enough in its approach to improving the situation. 

With around 38% of women living with chronic pain, many report that their symptoms are too often normalised, dismissed, or treated as an inevitable part of ageing or life stages such as menopause. Instead of MSK conditions being recognised as serious, long-term conditions requiring early intervention, women are left without adequate support. Delays in diagnosis and treatment mean symptoms frequently worsen while women wait, increasing pain, stiffness and fatigue and reducing their ability to stay active, work, and care for others.  

The impact of MSK conditions and gaps in access to women's care 

The wider societal impact is significant. MSK conditions affect not only individuals, but also families, communities and the economy, with many women forced to reduce their working hours or leave employment altogether. At Arthritis UK, we’ve recently invested £3 million in our Musculoskeletal Epidemiology consortium to address this urgent issue. We are investigating the links between MSK health and a range of factors, including menopause - an area that has been largely overlooked, despite around half of women experiencing joint pain during menopause.  

This updated strategy has 24 references to MSK, a step in the right direction considering the Government has largely ignored MSK conditions in other recent major health frameworks. Some of the key commitments outlined include improving community-based support with the expansion of MSK hubs and the Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) MSK Community Delivery Programme. These provide valuable holistic support to women around topics including exercise, nutrition and employment. Crucially though, women need to live nearby to access services as country-wide coverage is currently patchy.  

This is why community support must be carefully and consistently rolled out and backed by sustained, long-term funding to ensure women can access high-quality care close to home, as outlined in the Government’s Ten Year Health Plan for England. 

Much needed additional investment in women’s reproductive health was also outlined, including for menopause services. Joint pain is one of the most common menopausal symptoms, presenting a clear opportunity for early identification and intervention in primary care.  

Yet the Government’s continued failure to fully recognise and integrate the link between menopause and MSK pain represents a major missed opportunity, despite clear evidence connecting the two. 

Meanwhile, the governments in Scotland and Wales have made bone health and MSK conditions a clear priority in their strategies. Why are women in England continuing to be left behind? Certainly, the Government’s commitment to introducing fracture liaison services is a welcome acknowledgement of the importance of bone health, yet the implementation plan is still lacking and that needs to be addressed to meet the 2030 target.  

Embed women's MSK health in national policy

Wes Streeting spoke this week about tackling “medical misogyny”. If this is to be taken seriously, women with arthritis and MSK conditions must be properly recognised, prioritised, and treated with urgency.  

A Modern Services Framework for MSK conditions would be a strong starting point and has the potential to bring some much-needed alignment to national MSK health policy. Women also need timely access to community care, alongside faster referrals to rheumatology services.  

While we are making progress towards ensuring arthritis and MSK conditions are seen as priority public health issues, the Government is missing critical opportunities.  

Where was MSK within the new Neighbourhood Health Framework? This is another missed opportunity to embed MSK health in national policy which risks a continued disjointed approach to addressing MSK health in the round, including for women. 

So here are our takeaways. The refreshed strategy signals some progress but there is still much work to be done while women continue to endure the pain and fallout of living with arthritis and MSK. The Government must act now to sustainably integrate MSK care into wider women’s health policy, so women can finally start to feel seen and trust in a system that continues to fail them.