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A brief reference guide to women's health issues

Produced by the DWP group women’s advisory committee

Introduction

The Department for Work and Pensions currently employs around 102,000 staff. Of these 77,000 (75% or a little over) are women.

Increasingly today’s working woman finds herself juggling work, rushing off to meetings, looking after the house, shopping, helping the kids with their homework and various other caring commitments with less and less time to herself or indeed to address any minor health concerns which she tends to put off until she ‘has more time’.

The increased pressure of call centre scheduling in many DWP businesses can also make it difficult to fit in non-routine medical appointments. A

dd to that the difficulties sometimes in getting the chance to phone your GP in private and the variation in standard of preventative health care provided in different parts of the country and the constraints of the dwp attendance management procedures which can discourage staff from taking adequate time off from work whilst they are sick and it is no surprise that many of our staff suffer from ill health.

This guide aims to provide some general information about a range of health matters which affect women and some of the preventative measures available to our women members. It also provides some guidance about what you and your branch can do to campaign for improvements in health service provision and raise awareness about different health matters.

This guide is not intended as an authoritative statement on health issues but as a general guide with information about where to go for expert advice.

Please remember that if you are worried about a particular health issue you should consult your local GP or phone NHS Direct on 0845 4647.

Issues covered in this guidance