GPNs are the ‘backbone’ of reproductive healthcare, MPs told

General practice nurses (GPNs) are the ‘backbone’ of sexual and reproductive healthcare in England but are being held back by gaps in training, workforce pressures and unequal pay, a parliamentary committee has heard.

Ruth Bailey, chair of the Royal College of Nursing’s (RCN) Women’s Forum and an advanced nurse practitioner (ANP) specialising in sexual health in primary care, told MPs at the Women and Equalities Committee (WEC) on Wednesday that poor training and employment conditions were preventing more nurses from specialising in this area.

‘Roughly about half of all contraception and reproductive healthcare is delivered in primary care, and the backbone of the workforce in primary care is general practice nurses,’ Ms Bailey said.

Despite this, she told the committee there is no standardised requirement for nurses in general practice to be trained in sexual and reproductive health.

‘There isn’t standardised training for nurses to deliver sexual and reproductive health, there’s no requirement to do a module on women’s health,’ she said.

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Encouraging more nurses into sexual health

Ms Bailey explained that while nurses undertaking additional training must complete modules on immunisations and long-term conditions, women’s health is not mandatory.

She added that many nurses working in general practice are expected to fund their own training, including for fitting Long-Acting Reversible Contraception (LARCs) like implants and IUDs.

‘In primary care, nurses are more likely to have to pay for their own LARC training and their diploma of contraception and sexual health,’ she said.

Ms Bailey told MPs that nurses bring essential skills to sexual and reproductive health care, including listening, health education and validating patients’ concerns.

‘We know that nursing is the most trusted profession,’ she said. ‘Nurses have exquisite skills in being able to listen and to impart health education.’

Supporting young patients

She added that these skills are particularly important for young women and girls, who are often dismissed when raising concerns about menstrual health.

‘They need access to a skilled professional that will validate their concerns and be able to talk to them about their options for management,’ she said.

Disparities in pay and employment terms also make it harder to recruit and retain GPNs, especially as nurses working in primary care are not on Agenda for Change (AfC) and lack the maternity and employment rights that their AfC colleagues have access to.

She pointed to research from the RCN earlier this year, which found that around a third of primary care nurses had not received a pay uplift for 2024/25.

She said to the committee: ‘They don’t get the same maternity pay, they don’t get the same sick pay, and they don’t get the same annual leave. What incentive is there to move from secondary care to go and work in primary care?’

Women’s health hubs

Women’s health hubs were also discussed during the meeting, with Ms Bailey suggesting they must make better use of the advanced nurse practitioner (ANP) workforce and the expertise they have.

‘It’s really important women’s health hubs utilise all of the talents and expertise of the multiprofessional workforce, and advanced practice is underutilised,’ she added.

While supportive of women’s health hubs, Ms Bailey warned against removing reproductive health care from general practice altogether.

‘We would not support removing reproductive health care entirely from general practice because we don’t want to deal with patients’ issues in siloes,’ she said.

The WEC evidence session comes as part of its inquiry into reproductive health conditions among girls and young women.

Ms Bailey discussed wider women’s health issues on the Nursing in Practice podcast this month, where she joined our acting editor Megan Ford to discuss the upcoming inclusion of menopause questions in regular health checks.