As the UK Government refreshes its Women’s Health Strategy, a new nationally representative survey of 2,000 UK adults from the Health Tech Alliance (HTA), run by Clarity Global, reveals a serious disconnect between national policy and patient reality.
Despite industry momentum, 63% of the UK public have never heard of the Strategy and this lack of visibility is mirrored in women’s day-to-day experiences of care: half (50%) of all UK women report feeling their health concerns were not taken seriously by a healthcare professional because of their gender.
A crisis of dismissal
The new data shows that the issue of “medical misogyny”, which the updated Strategy explicitly aims to tackle, is most felt among younger generations. A staggering 64% of women aged 18–24 report being dismissed by medical professionals and this erosion of trust is already changing how young women navigate the health system.
While older women (55+) still rely heavily on GPs (67%) and the NHS (59%) for health information, 18–24-year-olds are increasingly turning to alternative sources, over-indexing on friends and family (39%) with over a quarter also turning to social media influencers (26%) to fill the information gap.
The funding and awareness disconnect
The public recognises that funding is an issue, but is less certain about the role technology should play in fixing the system.
The findings point to a strong mandate for financial reform: over half the country (51%) agree that women’s health has been historically underfunded, a sentiment shared almost equally across genders (53% of men and 52% of women). Consequently, 54% of the public rank “more funding for women’s health services” as the number one difference-maker for the next five years.
When asked where, specifically, Government action should be focused, women’s cancers (49%), menopause (37%), and gynaecological conditions such as endometriosis and PCOS (37%) emerged as the public’s top three priorities. Support for menopause in particular peaks among 45–54-year-olds (51%), aligning closely with the group most directly affected.
Other widely supported changes for the next five years include:
- Better training for healthcare professionals (53%)
- Shorter wait times (49%)
- More public awareness and education campaigns (41%)
Technology lost in translation
While many in the sector believe technology will be central to progress when asked about top priorities for the Government, “FemTech innovation” scored just 5%, and broader use of data and technology (e.g. apps, AI) also ranked low with 20%.
Rather than an active rejection of digital tools, this points to a critical communication gap: patients do not yet see how industry innovations translate into tangible benefits such as shorter waiting times, faster diagnoses, or more personalised care. Closing this gap, through clearer public communication and by explicitly linking technology to real-world outcomes, will be essential if the updated Women’s Health Strategy is to deliver on its ambitions.
“The data is clear: the intention is there, but the execution and communication are lagging,” said Louise Kitchingham, Secretariat of the Health Tech Alliance and EVP of policy communications at Clarity. “When over 63% of young women feel dismissed by the healthcare system, and the vast majority of the public doesn’t know about the very strategy that has been developed to help them - there is a clear disconnect. We know that there are medical technologies in existence designed and developed to help women - but how do we get them implemented at scale on the NHS? How do we design systems that provide better outcomes for women?”