Hampshire hospitals begin partnership with Mumsnet to tackle women’s gynaecology health concerns

The Hampshire Clinic and Sarum Road Hospital, part of Circle Health Group, the UK’s largest independent healthcare provider, has teamed up with parenting website Mumsnet to help thousands of women across Hampshire to get the answers they need to gynaecology-related problems. 

The partnership, launched in July, provides women with practical and expert advice on how to access the treatment they need, whether this means a new diagnosis or the management of a pre-existing condition. 

Mumsnet was founded in 2000 by Justine Roberts, with the aim of making patients’ lives easier. For more than 20 years Mumsnet has supported and led campaigns on issues that affect its mainly female users. The organisation launched the new partnership, with the Winchester and Basingstoke private hospitals, to give users the chance to ask women’s health related questions directly to one of the UK’s leading gynaecologists.   

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Dr Sujata Gupta, from Circle Health Group, is an established consultant gynaecologist with expertise in both conventional and robotic surgery. With more than 15 years’ experience in gynaecology, helping patients with a wide variety of women’s health conditions, Doctor Gupta’s key focus areas are endometriosis, menopause, gynaecological cancers and painful periods. Sujata’s work aims to help women access the right information and treatment they need to manage and overcome gynaecological conditions that affect their daily lives.  People have began using the Mumsnet website at mumsnet.com/ to ask their women's health questions to the gynaecologist.

Dr Gupta, consultant gynaecologist from Circle Health Group, said: “Thousands of women in Hampshire struggle with the effects of a gynaecological condition and yet often go undiagnosed for years. The greatest challenge is often finding the right information, or the feeling of embarrassment that comes suffering with this type of condition. This has a dramatic impact on how women engage with healthcare professionals and ultimately prevents them from asking the appropriate questions and getting the diagnosis they need.” 

Historically, the diagnosis and treatment of gynaecological conditions has left women sometimes waiting years for a diagnosis and struggling to receive clarity. Recent data published by the Independent Healthcare Providers Network and The Patients Association in a report looking at patient choice, showed that in most areas of the UK, women were waiting more than six months to see a specialist. 

The government has recently announced a new strategy to target failings in women’s health care with measures such as mandatory gynaecology modules for trainee doctors. However, the new partnership is concerned that whilst this is a positive step, it won’t help the problems millions of women are facing right now.  

Commenting on the campaign, Adam Busby, acting group clinical director at Circle Health Group, said: “Partnering with Mumsnet gives us the opportunity to share our specialist expertise with women in a way that they can engage with safely and in the confidence that they will be listened to. The more we share about gynaecology and how to best reach a diagnosis the better chance we have of ending this damaging stigma.” 

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Mumsnet founder and CEO Justine Roberts, said: “Mumsnet users have frequently told us about their struggles to access vital women’s health services, often with serious consequences. We’re glad that this partnership will enable women to seek expert advice via Mumsnet, and empower our users to advocate for themselves, while we continue to campaign to tackle decades of entrenched inequality in healthcare.”

Circle Health Group is a UK independent healthcare provider. The group operates independent hospitals, runs integrated care programmes and rehabilitation services, and has an overseas division which operates in Shanghai, China. The organisation has 54 hospitals across the UK, including Sarum Road Hospital in Winchester and The Hampshire Clinic in Basingstoke.

For more go to circlehealthgroup.co.uk/.