Health equality
‘Medical misogyny’ leaves women in pain
Women experiencing painful reproductive health conditions such as endometriosis, adenomyosis and heavy menstrual bleeding are frequently finding their symptoms ‘normalised’ and their ‘pain dismissed’ when seeking help, a new report by the Women and Equalities Committee (WEC) has warned.
A report by the Women and Equalities Committee, focusing on women’s reproductive health conditions, has found that accessing diagnosis and treatment can take years, leaving women and girls to endure pain and discomfort that interferes with every aspect of their daily lives – including their education, careers, relationships and fertility – while their conditions worsen. Many are resorting to expensive private healthcare. Pervasive stigma associated with gynaecological and urogynaecological health, a lack of education and ‘medical misogyny’ has contributed to poor awareness of these conditions, the report concluded. This is mirrored, it added, in a lack of medical research, treatment options, specialists, and the de- prioritisation of gynaecological care as evident by waiting lists, which have grown faster than any other specialty in recent years. The report cites a “clear lack of awareness and understanding of women’s reproductive health conditions among primary healthcare
practitioners”, particularly when those conditions occur in young women and girls. It called on the NHS to “urgently implement a training programme to improve the experience” of accessing treatment and diagnosis for women and girls with reproductive ill health. Improving early diagnosis, including through the provision of follow up appointments, must be a priority to prevent a deterioration of symptoms. Improvements in diagnosis times should be made a key performance indicator for the Women’s Health Strategy for England, the report states, adding that progress since the strategy was published in 2022 has been too slow, lacking an implementation plan and resource. Healthcare practitioners, who are currently under significant pressure, “lack sufficient understanding of the range and suitability of treatment options available” to treat reproductive health conditions, the report found, as it recommended the NHS must take steps to ensure practitioners keep up to date with the full range of diagnostic and treatment options
available for reproductive health conditions, and that patients understand their options. On training, the report called on the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to set out plans to improve the accessibility and take up of professional development in women’s reproductive health conditions among practitioners in primary care, adding those plans should include increased funding for training on reproductive health conditions and protected time for GPs to undertake that training. The Government should also consider how to better incentivise healthcare professionals to specialise in women’s reproductive health, including making obstetrics and gynaecology a mandatory rotation in training. MPs on the cross-party committee chaired
by Labour MP, Sarah Owen, raised concerns that the teaching of the menstrual health element of relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) is “insufficient and inconsistent”, often delivered too late to be of use. It found that girls are leaving school not knowing what constitutes a ‘normal’ period, unequipped to spot the symptoms of reproductive health conditions. The report called on the Government to
ensure teachers tasked with the menstrual and gynaecological health element of RSHE receive the training necessary to deliver it effectively and that information should be taught around the time most girls first experience menstruation. Statutory guidance, it added, should specify that boys be taught about female reproductive health conditions and include intersectional differences. Many women and girls, the report cautioned,
are using online spaces to seek help. It is therefore imperative, the report concluded, that the NHS and trusted sources become a first port-of-call to prevent misinformation and that the NHS website, app and social media presence must be comprehensive, accessible, inclusive, and highly-visible. The report cited the severe pain experienced by some women undergoing routine healthcare
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