This Saturday marks International Women’s Day, with this year’s theme focusing in on accelerating actions to turn promises into progress around gender parity.

Earlier this week we promoted a webinar taking place this Friday 7th March, which will focus in on the theme of women’s health and the factors that can influence health as a woman, including aspects like race, disabilities and more.

As we celebrate International Women’s Day, we wanted to use the occasion to promote some of the support options available to the women in our workforce.

Staff Networks:

Gateshead Health is home to both the Women’s Network and Women in Medicine Network, both of which strive to create a supporting and inclusive working environment for women, and those that identify as women, working for Gateshead Health.

All of our Staff Networks play a key role in driving forward positive actions, and tend to meet on a monthly basis – meaning they can also act as a valuable source of support for colleagues throughout the Trust.

Menopause:

Our menopause support area is home to a wealth of information, resources and support around the topic of menopause and perimenopause. Included amongst this are a practical tool in Menopause Passports, documents which are designed to help you communicate with line managers around the impact of symptoms you may experience. Passports were recently updated with an appendix listing common symptoms, helping make it even easier to list yours and their impact. The wider purpose of passports is to prompt consideration around reasonable adjustments that could be discussed and agreed to help support you in staying well at work.

Elsewhere, there is the support available through our excellent Menopause Warriors support group, who meet monthly and keep in touch via an optional WhatsApp group. Kindly led by the wonderful Alison Harvey, colleagues can request invitations to meetings – which are mixed between face-to-face and virtual, by emailing [email protected].

And for those looking to learn more about menopause, you can also engage in training around the topic. Our number one recommendation is the recorded version of menopause training held by NENC ICS Menopause Lead, Jacqui McBurnie in late 2024 – a session useful for both those experiencing symptoms and those who are supporting others who are. There is also an eLearning package available through the NHS England Learning Hub.

Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG):

Violence against Women and Girls is a term that covers a range of abuses that disproportionately affect women – inclusive of domestic abuse, sexual assault, stalking, honour-based violence and harassment.

In the United Kingdom, VAWG is a particularly serious and widespread issue, and one which can often create a devastating and long-lasting impact on the health, wellbeing and safety of women and girls. Resultant of the Zero Tolerance Campaign, our website is home to a range of resources which can support colleagues experiencing these unacceptable behaviours.

Included amongst these resources are pages dedicated to supporting colleagues experiencing domestic abuse – including information on how to report, where to receive targeted support and where internal support could be available. Similar can be said for topics like harassment and sexual abuse.

More Women’s Health Issues:

Areas currently under development in the Women’s Health area of our site include our cancers webpage – which aims to offer information around targeted support available to those experiencing cancer; a fertility and postnatal support area which includes topics like pregnancy loss; and with more to follow.

If there’s a women’s health issue you’d like to see us prioritise next, please drop us a line on [email protected]. We’ll take the feedback into account – and do our best to signpost you in the direction of any useful support in the meantime.