Dr Orlanda Allen, head of women’s services at HCA Healthcare UK, on a new Harley Street facility dedicated to meeting the needs of women.
In 2021, the UK Government set out a 10-year strategy designed to address inequalities within healthcare and understand how to better prioritise women’s issues. The public survey that informed the new strategy highlighted the gender health gap and how the historical design of healthcare has been, for the majority, biased toward men. The responses showed that 84% of women felt healthcare professionals weren’t listening to them, and as such found it more difficult to make appointments or discuss issues for fear they weren’t being taken seriously.
Women participating in the study cited a plethora of different reasons as to why they didn’t feel listened to, including being dismissed upon contact with GPs and other healthcare professionals, having to advocate for themselves to secure a diagnosis, and lacking opportunities to discuss their health or ask questions about treatment options and preferences. While 85% of women felt comfortable talking to healthcare professionals about general physical health concerns, only 59% felt they could discuss their mental health with ease.
My role at HCA Healthcare UK is all about understanding the specific needs of women in healthcare and ensuring that we’re addressing them with the highest possible standards of care. In addition to having a hospital dedicated to the care of women and children in The Portland Hospital, we have recently invested over £18m in two new dedicated women’s health centres, the largest of which is set in the heart of Harley Street Health District.
The Women’s Health Centre at 27-29 Harley Street (pictured top) is a 13,000 sq ft, six floor, state-of-the-art facility dedicated to the care of women. Bringing together specialist expertise from The Harley Street Clinic and The Princess Grace Hospital, it provides care to women at every stage of life. It has 16 consulting rooms, four treatment rooms, three ultrasound rooms, three mammograms and its own 3T MRI and DEXA scanner and offers a private GP service with doctors who specialise in healthcare for women.
In recent years, there have been some notable leaps in the understanding of women’s care as a medical specialty, based on the growing awareness that there are medical conditions that affect women disproportionately or differently to men. Take, for example, the acknowledgment that menopause shouldn’t just be something women have to ‘cope with’, but a stage in a woman’s life that requires more conversation, more education and more specialist medical input.
What The Women’s Health Centre does is cater to demand for specialised care for women across a whole spectrum of medical specialties, all in one convenient location. We have also created strong referral pathways with other specialties, such as cancer care, cardiovascular services and obstetrics and fertility, meaning that patients will always be able to get any onwards care seamlessly and in the right location for them.
