Projects

Increasing equitable access to women’s healthcare services in Sunderland: community insights and evaluation of a Women’s Health Hub pilot.

This study is funded by the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board and Sunderland City Council, and includes partners from Newcastle, Sunderland and Northumbria Universities.

Project background

Many women face significant, complex barriers to engaging in health and care services. Inequalities in both access and outcomes are regularly observed for those living in areas of high socioeconomic disadvantage, those from ethnically minoritised communities, neurodivergent groups and more. Women facing multiple forms of disadvantage are likely to experience even greater barriers to accessing appropriate health and care services.

The North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board awarded £250,000 in non-recurrent funding to Sunderland Health and Care Partners, to roll out a Women’s Health Hub pilot. This pilot, which aims to improve accessibility to women’s health services, began in September 2023 – providing contraceptive, menopause and cervical screening services to women across the city.

Project Summary

The NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) North East and North Cumbria (NENC) have been commissioned to conduct a mixed-methods service evaluation of the Women’s Health Hub service in Sunderland and, more broadly, also explore community insights around equitable health and care access in the city.

This project aims to:

• Work alongside women facing multiple forms of disadvantage and partners from the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) sector, to identify key enablers to accessing women’s health services in Sunderland.
• Produce a local social cost-benefit analysis of Sunderland’s health hub pilot.
• Explore the experiences of patients accessing the women’s health hub.
• Better understand perceived effectiveness of the pilot in addressing areas of unmet need
• Identify potential areas for improvement.

This project and its findings (when completed) will be relevant to anyone with an interest in women’s health and/or the development of inclusive and equitable health and care services. This includes policy makers and commissioners, health and care practitioners, researchers, community organisations and members of the public.

It is expected that the findings of this project can inform future investment in, and roll-out of, accessible women’s health and care services locally, regionally and nationally.

For more information please contact the Project Lead, Dr Angela Wearn, ARC NENC Research Fellow in Public Involvement and Community Engagement.
Email: ([email protected])