Published on 15th April 2026
The Women's Health Strategy is a welcome step forward but the most vulnerable continue to be at risk of being left behind: Change Grow Live responds to the renewed Women’s Health Strategy – April 2026
The Government has today published the renewed Women’s Health Strategy, which sets out a much-needed approach to improving health outcomes and reducing inequalities for women.
It’s encouraging to see continued Government recognition that women have historically been under-served by systems largely designed around male bodies and male health experiences.
Moving issues such as endometriosis, PCOS and maternal care firmly into mainstream policy is real progress toward greater equity for women in healthcare.
The Strategy also sets out important commitments that directly relate to the work we do, including supporting women to reduce alcohol consumption and smoking, and strengthening support for women experiencing homelessness. It is also encouraging to see the Women’s Rough Sleeping Census referenced, which we are proud to produce alongside partners across the sector.
These are the right priorities, but the success of the strategy will depend on its ability to deliver impact for the most marginalised and vulnerable women in society. This is a cohort that is overrepresented in the drug and alcohol treatment system and represents women that are too often missed by mainstream health and care services.
In my role at Change Grow Live, I see every day how women’s health is shaped by more than just individual clinical conditions.
Last year, over 100,000 women accessed drug and alcohol treatment services. For each of them, substance use may be the reason for first engagement, but it is rarely the full picture. It is intertwined with trauma, poverty, inequality, caregiving responsibilities, domestic abuse, and other health issues.
These experiences don’t sit separately from women’s health – they are central to it. But too often, mainstream services are not designed to respond to this complexity and, as a result, women fall through the gaps.
This is where specialist drug and alcohol treatment services play a critical role, acting as a front door to wider health and care support for women who might otherwise go unseen.
At Change Grow Live we are constantly working to improve how we support women on their own terms. Over the past year, we have undertaken a comprehensive review of women’s experiences across our services, with the aim of making our support more accessible, inclusive and trauma responsive. Some of this work is already happening, as highlighted by the explicit recognition of Change Grow Live’s Wildflowers Clinic within the Strategy, demonstrating the impact that multi-agency, empowering services can have on the ground.
Alongside the Women’s Health Strategy, there are important parallel developments happening within Government. This includes the Violence Against Women and Girls strategy, and reforms to the sentencing system, that could result in the introduction of a women’s specific pathway for drug and alcohol treatment.
These are positive steps, but they also highlight how fragmented policymaking in this space can be. The renewed Women’s Health Strategy has a critical role to play in bringing this together, ensuring that women’s health is addressed through a genuinely joined-up, whole-system approach that reflects the realities of women’s lives.
I’m looking forward to continuing to work with partners across the health and voluntary sectors to achieve this ambition, and a future where no woman is left behind.
Nic Adamson, Deputy Chief Executive