What will the Women's Health Hub do?

Based in The Arches Shopping Village, in Hartlepool town centre, the Women's Health Hub* will be a central location for any and all support you may need as a woman. From pregnancy and postpartum to menarche and menopause, we aim to cover and support the wide range of women's health issues which are often overlooked and missed.

We will run specific peer support groups for a wide range of issues, host workshops and classes from professionals in women's health and hold drop-in sessions - to provide a safe space for you to come when you need to not be alone. As well as providing signposting services to all of the amazing organisations and groups which currently work to support women in our area.

Why is the Women's Health Hub needed?

Women's health has been overlooked and ignored on a longstanding basis. Whilst, on average, women live longer than men, they spend a disproportionate amount of time in ill health due to a lack of research, funding and focus on women-specific issues.

In their recent Better for Women report, the RCOG called for women’s healthcare to be tackled through a ‘life course approach’ which looks at women’s health across her lifetime, implementing preventative care strategies rather than just tackling disease. This approach was backed up in the Women's Health Strategy. This was launched in summer 2022 and highlighted the need for women’s health hubs across the country. These hubs will be spaces where women can receive all of the support they need throughout their life and not fall through the cracks in the current system – which leaves women being passed between services which are not sufficiently linked up.

But this government strategy has a 10 year timeline and it is yet to been seen if it will be adequately funded. We don’t believe that we should have to wait that long and, in fact, we feel that better support for women in the specific issues they face is desperately needed now.

There is also the problem we have always faced here in the North East, with the unequal distribution or funding and resources compounding any health disparities seen in the rest of the country. The recent MBRRACE report found that women living in more socially deprived areas are 2.5 x more likely to die in childbirth and the weeks/ months following than those living in more affluent areas. This is highly concerning for us, locally, as Hartlepool is one of the 20% most deprived local authorities in England, with all adults having a lower than average life expectancy (see here).

We need to come together as a community to tackle this issue.

To support our women, our wives, our mothers, our sisters, our daughters.

And we passionately believe that creating our own, community led Women’s Health Hub is the best way to do this.

How will my money be spent?

We are asking for £7000

This is to fund for:

• One years rent on the space (£5013.60)

• One year of support from an accountant qualified to support not-for-profits (£1080)

• Furnishing the room, advertising etc. (£906.40)

Can’t afford to support us financially but can provide services or equipment? Please email zoe@postpartummatters.co.uk with information – thank you!

Who are the organisers?

Lottie is mum to a rainbow boy who is now six years old (somehow!). She works part time as a pharmacist with a broad background covering academia, charity, community, industry and research, most recently having completed a PhD at Durham University in the Chemistry Department. Lottie also volunteers as a Drugs in Breastmilk Pharmacist for the Breastfeeding Network and is passionate about empowering parents to make informed decisions about their health. She also provides awareness sessions on medication and breastfeeding to both healthcare professionals and parents. Recently she has become involved in her local Maternity Voices Partnership (North Tees and Hartlepool) and hopes to use this opportunity to engage with parents, amplify their voices and ensure that they are at the centre of all maternity services.

Zoe is a mum to two, a PhD student, a postnatal doula and a women's health advocate and activist. She launched Postpartum Matters CIC in September 2021, following the difficulties she had giving birth and recovering in a pandemic. Since then she has trained and became a member of The Postnatal Doula Academy, she is a Make Birth Better champion, a AIMS volunteer and peer reviewer and an active member of her local Maternity Voices Partnership. Zoe is trained in providing trauma informed care as well as bias awareness and trans inclusivity. She is passionate about fighting gender based health inequalities at a policy level whilst also working to support those who are impacted.

How do I get involved?

Our dream is for the Women's Health Hub to be a collaborative, community effort.

If you wish to be involved more deeply, please follow the Facebook page or email zoe@postpartummatters.co.uk.

Currently, we are most keen to hear from those of you who provide services which support women - e.g. hypnobirthing courses, pelvic health support, women focused yoga/ exercise etc. We wish to provide low cost venue hire to such services, to help support such business with reduced costs whilst funding the Hub, and to provide a space which brings together everything Hartlepool has to offer to support women.

Please email zoe@postpartummatters.co.uk to register your interest.

*The support offered by the Women's Health Hub is inclusive of everyone assigned female at birth and we will be offering specialised support to those who do not identify with or feel comfortable being described as a woman, alongside the support we plan to provide for cis-gendered women.