Why are women still waiting?

By Jane Lewis, chief operating officer, chief financial officer and women’s health lead, ABHI

For years, the conversation around women’s health has rightly focused on recognition.

Recognition that women wait longer for diagnosis. Recognition that symptoms are too often dismissed or normalised. Recognition that healthcare systems have historically been designed around male biology, leaving gaps in research, evidence and care.

That recognition matters. But awareness alone will not improve outcomes.

The challenge facing women’s health today is no longer simply identifying the problem. It is acting on the solutions already available.

At ABHI’s Women’s Health Summit earlier this year, leaders from across healthcare, government, academia and industry came together to discuss the future of women’s health.

One message emerged repeatedly throughout the day: we do not have an innovation problem.

Across medical devices, diagnostics, digital health and genomics, there are already technologies capable of transforming outcomes for women.

From self-sampling approaches for cervical screening and non-invasive diagnostics to AI-enabled tools and advanced imaging, innovation is happening. The question is whether healthcare systems can adopt it quickly enough.

Too often, promising technologies become trapped in pilot programmes, fragmented procurement processes or lengthy implementation pathways. Evidence generation, commissioning and adoption are frequently treated as separate challenges rather than part of a single journey.

The consequence is that innovations capable of improving quality of life and reducing pressure on health services take years to reach the women who could benefit from them.

This matters because women’s health extends far beyond reproductive health.

Historically, many discussions have centred on fertility, pregnancy and gynaecological conditions. These remain critically important, but they represent only part of the picture.

Women experience cardiovascular disease differently to men. They are disproportionately affected by autoimmune conditions. They face distinct health challenges throughout their lives, from adolescence to healthy ageing.

Yet healthcare systems often continue to approach these issues in isolation.

A woman does not experience her health in separate compartments. Pregnancy, cardiovascular risk, menopause, mental health and musculoskeletal conditions are interconnected.

Healthcare systems need to reflect that reality through more integrated, life-course approaches to care.

There has never been a better opportunity to do so.

Across the NHS, the shift towards prevention, community-based care and digital transformation aligns closely with the needs of women’s health.

Women’s Health Hubs are already demonstrating the benefits of bringing services together around the needs of women rather than organisational boundaries. Digital technologies are helping to identify risk earlier and support more personalised care.

Innovation can help deliver all three of the NHS’s major transformation ambitions: moving from treatment to prevention, from hospital to community, and from analogue to digital care.

But innovation alone is not enough.

Closing the women’s health gap also requires us to address longstanding gaps in research and evidence.

Women remain underrepresented in many areas of clinical research, and sex-disaggregated analysis is not always applied consistently. The result is that clinical pathways and treatment decisions are often based on evidence that does not fully reflect female physiology.

Better data, stronger research participation and greater focus on female-specific and female-predominant conditions will be essential.

There is also a compelling economic case for action.

Women’s health is often framed as an equality issue, and equality remains central. But poor health affects workforce participation, productivity and economic growth.

Improving outcomes for women benefits not only patients, but employers, healthcare systems and wider society.

Yet despite this, women’s health innovation continues to attract only a fraction of the investment directed towards other areas of healthcare.

That is beginning to change.

Across the UK and internationally, momentum is building. Governments, investors, researchers and innovators increasingly recognise that women’s health is both a societal necessity and an economic opportunity.

The conversation has moved on significantly in recent years. Topics that were once overlooked are now firmly on the policy agenda.

The next challenge is ensuring that awareness translates into action.

The technologies exist. The evidence is growing. The policy direction is increasingly clear.

ABHI is increasingly taking this agenda beyond national boundaries. Through our engagement with international industry associations, policymakers and healthcare leaders, we are working to ensure that women’s health is recognised as both a health and economic priority.

We are helping to shape discussions on innovation, regulation, investment and adoption, while sharing lessons from the UK with partners around the world.

Whether addressing the gender health gap, improving access to diagnostics or accelerating the uptake of new technologies, international collaboration will be essential.

The challenge now is not recognising the need for change, but delivering it.

Women have waited long enough for acknowledgement of the problem. They should not have to wait any longer for the benefits of the solutions that already exist.

ABHI is the UK’s leading industry association for HealthTech. Its members, ranging from multinationals to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), develop and supply technologies spanning everything from syringes and wound dressings to surgical robots, diagnostics, and digitally enabled healthcare solutions. ABHI’s 400 member companies represent approximately 80% of the UK HealthTech sector by value.

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