Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists

In the UK, about 10% to 15% of births involve assistance in this way.

And the RCOG estimates that approximately one in three first births involve forceps or ventus compared with a much smaller proportion after a previous vaginal birth.

And I've only seen a few...

in my time.

Having already established herself in business, Jannette made the significant decision to retrain as a doctor.

She graduated from Guy's, King's and St Thomas' School of Medicine in London in 2007, and subsequently qualified in general practice, gaining MRCGP and a diploma of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

Today, her work brings together clinical medicine, women's health, healthcare strategy, and innovation.

She advises healthcare businesses and startups, and serves as a trustee of Cancer Support UK.

[laughs]

With the, in, in the UK, Stu, so the RCOG, um, i- i- with, with, the, like, it, they specifically recommend, uh, ultrasound where clinical examination leaves uncertainty for the position of a baby's head before forcep use.

So they, you know-

Wait, they-

What highlights do you have from the blue section? And do you have any non-publishing highlights from the past 12 months? Sonia, let's start with you if we can.

Yeah, I think I'd really like to highlight a research letter from the RCOG that was published in the December issue of 2025, which explored the women's health research priorities in the UK and try to understand what sort of top 10 priorities that were collated after a survey done amongst women within the UK.

And what it highlighted were that the gaps in women's health research reflect not only underfunding, but also misalignment of priorities, which is an important one.

And it really offered a clear direction for future investigation, emphasizing the need for studies that actively include women, understand hormonal effects across the life course, and address long-term outcomes.

And the professional consensus on this is incredibly cautious right now.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, ACOG, and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, RCOG, have published explicit warnings about this.

Yes, they have.

They firmly state these laser procedures are not medically indicated for routine use outside of clinical trials.

And because of those mixed outcomes in the gold standard trials, major professional societies are pumping the brakes.

For instance, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the RCOG, has issued specific cautions.

They state that currently the certainty of evidence supporting the laser is low.

Their official position is that vaginal laser therapy for the genitourinary syndrome of menopause should not be routinely offered outside of rigorous clinical research trials just yet.