---

Pain: Health Services

Answer

Our Renewed Women’s Health Strategy, published in April, explicitly recognises that women’s pain is too often dismissed, normalised, or ignored, and treats this as a systemic failure, not isolated poor practice. It puts women’s lived experience, including pain and whether they felt listened to, at the heart of how National Health Service quality is defined, measured, and improved.

For the first time, women’s feedback on pain management will directly influence NHS accountability, and patient reported experience measures will be embedded in core women’s health pathways.

The strategy strengthens escalation and feedback routes, building on Jess’s Rule and Martha’s Rule, so women can challenge when symptoms persist or they feel they are not being listened to.

To support healthcare professionals in the assessment and management of chronic pain, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published guidance on this topic, which is available at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng193

The guidance includes recommendations for healthcare professionals on how to carry out a person-centred assessment when an individual presents with chronic pain, how to develop a care and support plan for a patient with chronic pain, and how to manage flare-ups of chronic pain. The guidance also includes recommendations on both pharmacological and non-pharmacological management options for chronic pain.

Building on from the NICE guidelines, the Royal College of General Practitioners has produced an e-learning course on chronic pain in adults, which is available at the following link:

https://elearning.rcgp.org.uk/course/info.php?id=588

The e-learning course aims to increase understanding amongst general practitioners (GPs) about chronic pain and to educate GPs and other healthcare professionals about the physiology of pain. It gives practical advice about how the NICE guidelines can be applied to patient care.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

12450

Session

2026-27

Subjects

Women Health services Pain

Link

View this Written question on www.parliament.uk