12th Report – Menstrual health of girls and young women

Key findings

• Updated RSHE statutory guidance now mandates teaching about menstrual and gynaecological health (including endometriosis and PCOS) from September 2026, but effective implementation requires teacher training, standardised resources, and whole-school approaches to destigmatise periods and support girls.
• School nurses have been reduced by 33% since 2009 and provide crucial early pathways to care, yet many pupils have no access; postcode lottery in provision creates unequal outcomes for girls recognising and seeking help for menstrual problems.
• NHS website and social media have not sufficiently raised awareness of menstrual health; 'shadow banning' inappropriately censors women's health content on platforms; FemTech apps remain largely unregulated and potentially exploitative despite 2022 Strategy focus.
• Discriminatory attitudes persist among healthcare staff; racial biases in pain management disproportionately affect girls from minority ethnic groups; needs of disabled and Deaf young women remain poorly understood and largely unmet in education and clinical care.
• Nearly 500,000 women on hospital gynaecology waiting lists highlights failure to deliver preventive, community-based menstrual care; women's health hubs risk discontinuation due to budget cuts and removal from operational guidance, threatening long-term sustainability.

Recommendations

• The Government should encourage schools to use RSHE grant funding to train teachers on menstrual and gynaecological health elements. The Department for Education should work with the Department of Health and Social Care and stakeholders (Wellbeing of Women, Royal Colleges) to ensure effective training and resources are available; adequate training need not be time-consuming.
• The Department for Education and Department of Health and Social Care should ensure guidance produced to support the new RSHE curricula reflects the diversity of menstrual health experiences and needs of students, including materials for pupils from different racial and ethnic backgrounds and those with disabilities.
• As part of RSHE rollout, the Department for Education should develop resources and guidance for teachers and school staff to embed menstrual health awareness and support at whole-school level, including advice on best practice for access to period products without perpetuating stigma.
• The Government should understand why some schools and colleges have not participated in the period product scheme and encourage them to do so; the scheme should be extended indefinitely and access points should be explored beyond schools and colleges.
• The Government should investigate the extent to which access to school toilets is being restricted and request that school leaders take alternative approaches to tackling discipline issues.
• The renewed Women's Health Strategy should include an aim to improve provision of school nurses, particularly in deprived areas, as investment in school nursing would likely lead to long-term savings and aligns with prevention and community-based care goals.
• The Government must set out clear actions and targets to improve NHS website, social media, and safe, not-for-profit FemTech app awareness of menstrual health. It should immediately include a link to Wellbeing of Women's online period symptom checker on the NHS website.
• The Government must act to stop 'shadow banning' of women's health content on social media, hold social media companies accountable, and ensure the NHS provides its own not-for-profit alternatives to exploitative apps.
• The renewed Women's Health Strategy must include clear actions to tackle dismissal of women's menstrual problems through effective workforce training and accountability, with stringent monitoring and evaluation.
• The Government must provide additional ringfenced funding to Integrated Care Boards to ensure women's health hubs are sustainable and continue to develop; ICBs must be held accountable for delivering hubs meeting core specifications and driving down hospital gynaecology waiting lists.
• The renewed Women's Health Strategy should set out ambitions for increased research into menstrual health conditions, with specific targets and actions to incentivise funders, industry, and clinical academia, focusing on root causes as well as diagnosis and treatment.

Key actors

Sarah Owen (Chair, Women and Equalities Committee), Professor Dame Lesley Regan (Women's Health Ambassador), Dr Sue Mann (NHS England, National Clinical Director for Women's Health), Kate Lancaster (Chief Executive, Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists), Janet Lindsay (Wellbeing of Women), Chella Quint (Founder, Period Positive campaign), Kerry Wolstenholme (Educator and RSHE trainer), Dr Nandi Simpson (NHS Race and Health Observatory)