For too long, the healthcare journey for many women has been defined by silence and systemic gaps.
At the Women’s Organisation, our collective mission is to transform women’s health across England and Northern Ireland by ensuring that the lived experiences and diverse voices of women are at the heart of every policy and strategy we develop.
By prioritising these perspectives from the earliest stages of design through to implementation, we can ensure that healthcare services are truly representative, accessible, and effective for all.
To this end, community organisations from across Northern Ireland joined us with a united purpose: addressing the persistent inequalities experienced by women whose health needs remain under-prioritised and underfunded due to rural isolation, poverty, and marginalisation.
Together, we reflected upon two critical and connected areas: the implementation and evolution of the Women’s Health Strategy for England and the development of a Women’s Health Action Plan for Northern Ireland.
To help us navigate these complex challenges, we were privileged to hear from experts and leaders dedicated to improving women’s health across England and Northern Ireland.
Speakers: Catherine McClennan
We were delighted to welcome Catherine McClennan NHS Director for Women’s Health, Maternity & Neonatal Services for Cheshire and Merseyside to our gathering.
Catherine shared her varied and valuable professional and lived experiences, reflecting on how both have shaped and equipped her for the role she holds today. As a result, her insights grounded our discussions in real-world practice, illuminating the challenges, pressures, and opportunities that exist when trying to improve women’s health outcomes at a local level.
A central theme of Catherine’s contribution was resilience. She spoke candidly about what it means to persist, particularly when fighting for funding, resources, and support for services that address women’s health needs. The process of implementing support structures in her local area has required determination, creativity, and sustained advocacy. And, as she highlighted, these challenges are amplified when the services in question relate specifically to women’s health, which too often struggles for recognition and prioritisation.
Catherine also reflected on her experience with the local implementation of the Women’s Health Strategy for England. She shared how her team focused on specific elements of the strategy that could make the greatest immediate impact and reach the widest group of women. The work demonstrated how improving women’s health is not just about clinical outcomes, it’s about enabling women to continue contributing meaningfully at work, within their families, and across their communities.
Looking ahead, Catherine emphasised the potential for future iterations of the strategy to take an even more holistic approach to women’s health. She encouraged a broader lens one that encompasses general wellbeing, mental health, socioeconomic realities, and the wider impact of community context. Her message was clear: women’s health is not solely defined by the reproductive journey. To deliver meaningful, lasting change, we must consider a woman’s whole health course.
Her reflections were powerful, pragmatic, and deeply aligned with the purpose of our gathering: understanding how we can collectively strengthen women’s health services and ensure they reflect the full spectrum of women’s needs and lives.
Thank you to Catherine for her honesty expertise, and commitment to championing better outcomes for women.
David Holdsworth
We were also grateful to have the insight of David H. of the Charity Commission for England and Wales, address our gathering of influential leaders.
David reflected on the power of collaboration across the charitable and community sector:
- Collaboration that strengthens our collective voice.
- Collaboration that can secure funding, ensure continuation of vital services, and protect jobs.
- Collaboration that has the power to shape more effective women’s health policy and ultimately deliver better outcomes for women and girls.
In a landscape where women’s health inequalities remain significant and the economic climate remains unpredictable, his message resonated strongly. We achieve more, and we build greater resilience, when we work together.
Dr Paula Briggs
We were lucky enough to also be joined by Dr Paula Briggs, Consultant in Sexual and Reproductive Health at Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust.
Dr Briggs shared powerful reflection on what genuine progress requires. She spoke to the importance of working collaboratively with:
- local stakeholders
- local health and community services
- patient groups and service users
She emphasised that real impact starts with understanding what women need locally. What matters most in their lived experience, their barriers, their priorities, and their realities. From there, the focus turns to identifying what “best practice” should look like, and working collectively to implement, evaluate, refine, and share those approaches.
Her message highlighted the strength of multi-stakeholder collaboration. We need to embed the core principles of the Women’s Health Strategy for England, while finding creative, sustainable, community driven ways to address the women’s health challenges that persist. Furthermore, she reminded us that achieving lasting impact and tangible outcomes depends on ongoing training, support, and the consistent sharing of what works, ensuring that progress is not isolated but amplified.
In a landscape where women’s health inequalities remain significant and economic pressures add additional strain to services, Dr Briggs’ contribution resonated deeply. We strengthen resilience, improve services, and achieve better outcomes for women and girls when we work together and listen to the voices of those closest to the issues.
It was inspiring to hear from organisations already leading change on the ground. Together they are innovating, delivering vital frontline support, and shaping more equitable women’s health provision across Northern Ireland. The energy in the room reflected a shared belief in the power of collaboration, and a collective determination to accelerate progress.
Dawn Shackels – Community Foundation Northern Irelandsays:
“Events like this are vital to ensuring women’s voices are genuinely heard and that their needs are placed at the centre of decisions about their health and wellbeing– we must be visible, vocal and valued. Too often, health policy is designed “about” women rather than “with” women. Bringing grassroots community organisations together to address the inequalities women experience embodies our philosophy of “nothing about us without us” and is something to be fully welcomed”.
Thank you to everyone who contributed their insight, expertise, and commitment – Dawn Shackles, Charmain JONES, Paula McAliskey, and Louise Coyle from NORTHERN IRELAND RURAL WOMEN’S NETWORK (NIRWN), and Deirdre O’Neill, Karen Meehan, and Rhonda Murphy from Derry Well Woman.
Together, we are laying the foundations for stronger, more responsive women’s health services, and building a healthier, fairer future for all women and girls.
You can find our more about the work of our partner organisations in Northern Ireland here: