International Women's Day 2026

This year’s them for International Women’s Day on 8 March is “Rights. Justice. Action. For all Women and Girls” and we are reminded the fight for health equity for women and young girls still goes on.

 

Improving Me was established ten years ago to focus on improving maternity services and experiences, ensuring the voices and experiences of real women and communities were integral to service provision, improvement, and design.

 

As a woman who had experienced the good, bad and tragic consequences of maternity and neonatal services first hand, I have been on a mission to work with our workforce, commissioners, women and families to improve services for all and learn from poor experiences and outcomes.

 

Over many iterations we have included early years and Children and young people and most recently it has been incorporated as the main women’s health programme for Cheshire and Merseyside.

 

We believe, unequivocably, all women, girls (and those assigned female at birth) should have a voice and that voice should be heard and valued. This publication, in part, provides a snapshot of some of the important work we have undertaken to make this happen over the last ten years. Our history is important, particularly at this juncture, as the NHS undergoes an unprecedented reorganisation and seismic change.

 

We believe organisations that downplay their history risk losing their values, the need for vision and purpose, and direction is still real, and our vision is still as important today as when we began. Recalling the memory of our strategic path helps us to bring a focus to our identity, as a champion for women’s health. Our history is an asset, it creates authenticity and should inform future decision making. Likewise, history should be embraced to foster a sense of purpose among our staff and to build trust with the NHS brand with all our stakeholders, but most pertinently-women and girls.

 

We remain steadfast in our commitment to nurture and amplify women’s voices and to call society and our healthcare system to account. Women’s Health must remain everyone’s priority, everyday.