Female hospital patients to get free sanitary products on NHS

FREE TAMPONS and other sanitary products will be offered to every hospital patient who needs them in England, health chiefs have announced.

All women and girls will be able to ask for sanitary products free of charge from this summer, NHS England said.

The move means women and girls receiving treatment in hospitals and other health settings will be able to request pads, pantyliners and tampons when they need them.

Leading doctors had written to NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens last month to demand that hospitals provide inpatients with free sanitary towels and tampons.

The British Medical Association (BMA) argued that it was inconsistent for some hospitals to give out razors and shaving foam, but not offer women sanitary products.

Some patients struggle to meet the costs of sanitary products – so-called ‘period poverty’ – and while some hospitals do already provide them, NHS England said the requirement to do so will now be mandated in new contracts with hospitals for 2019-20.

Dame Parveen Kumar, who chairs the BMA’s board of science, said the move will come as a relief for many patients.

“As well being an important influence in the shift that is necessary towards ending period poverty, this will be a relief for many patients who will no longer face the embarrassment and stress of not being able to freely and easily access sanitary pads and tampons,” Dame Parveen said.