New Research Calls for Urgent Women’s Health Strategy in Northern Ireland
1 October 2025 — The Women’s Resource and Development Agency (WRDA) has released a landmark research report, authored by Dr. Meghan Hoyt, highlighting gaps and inequalities in women’s health across Northern Ireland. The report, funded by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, draws on international best practice and the lived experiences of women to call for the immediate development of a comprehensive Women’s Health Strategy for Northern Ireland.
“The Women’s Resource and Development Agency (WRDA) has published a timely piece of new research highlighting urgent health inequalities facing women in Northern Ireland. The report reveals widespread barriers to care – including long waiting times, gaps in gynecological and post-partum services, and the dismissal of women’s health concerns – and calls for the immediate development of a comprehensive Women’s Health Strategy. WRDA urges policymakers to act swiftly, ensuring that women’s lived experiences and medical expertise are placed at the heart of future health planning.”
Dr Meghan Hoyt, report author
Key Findings:
Northern Ireland Lags Behind: It remains the only jurisdiction in the UK and Ireland without a dedicated Women’s Health Strategy.
Long Waiting Times: Women face unacceptable delays for GP appointments, specialist assessments, and gynaecological care, with over 37,000 outpatients waiting for gynaecological services and an average endometriosis diagnosis time of nearly 10 years.
Knowledge and Research Gaps: Women’s health is historically under-researched, leading to gaps in medical knowledge and public awareness, especially around conditions like heart disease, menopause, and menstrual health.
Intersectional Barriers: Marginalised groups—including rural women, Black and minoritised women, and women with disabilities—face additional obstacles, from travel difficulties to racial discrimination and lack of accessible information.
Dismissal of Women’s Pain: Many women report feeling unheard or dismissed by healthcare professionals, with gender bias contributing to delayed diagnoses and inadequate care.
What Women Want: Key demands emerged from focus groups with 50 women from diverse backgrounds:
Accesibility: GP appointments
Continuity of Care: Building Relationships
Community Care: Invest in Local
Preventative Care: Thinking outside the prescription
Women’s Health Hubs: One wonderful place
Recommendations: The WRDA report urges the Department of Health to:
Develop and implement a Women’s Health Strategy without delay
Embed gender-based analysis and a ‘whole life course’ approach
Invest in research, public information campaigns, and comprehensive Relationships and Sex Education
Address gender bias and discrimination in healthcare
Improve post-partum care, rural provision, and support for older women
“We urge politicians, particularly the Health Minister, to read this report and take the recommendations seriously. Not only does it provide insight from the lived experience of women in communities across Northern Ireland, it also provides an oversight into what is in place in other jurisdictions that give us helpful pointers. One thing is clear; women in Northern Ireland are losing our patience with the endless delays in producing a Strategy and action plans. We have provided the template, now it’s over to the Minister to act.”
Elaine Crory, Women’s Sector Lobbyist
For further information please contact:
Dr. Meghan Hoyt, Policy Assistant at WRDA
Email: meghan.hoyt@wrda.net