Women’s health ambassador to be appointed in England

The government is to appoint a women’s health ambassador in England, after analysis of nearly 100,000 consultation responses found that 84% of women felt they were not listened to by health care professionals.

The announcement was made in the government’s Vision for Women’s Health, published today. Ambitions set out in the document include:

• Women feel comfortable talking about their health, whether that be with health care professionals, friends or family; women know when they can seek help for symptoms; and Women’s health issues are no longer taboo topics
• Women feel better listened to and heard by health care professionals, and women’s concerns and symptoms are taken seriously
• Women’s voices and experiences are represented and listened to at all levels and in all areas of the health care system

An analysis of the responses to the consultation found:

• Taboos and stigmas in women’s health can prevent women from seeking help and reinforce beliefs that debilitating symptoms are ‘normal’
• Eighty-four percent felt they were not listened to by healthcare professionals
• Women believe that services for specialities or conditions which only affect women are of lower priority compared to other services
• Women believe that GPs should receive compulsory training in women’s health, particularly the menopause
• Nearly two thirds of respondents with a health condition or disability said they do not feel supported by the services available for individuals with their condition or disability
• More than half of respondents said they felt uncomfortable talking about health issues with their workplace

Women’s health care sidelined for too long

Many women spoke of their difficulty in accessing gynaecological services and receiving late diagnosis. One woman, for example, said:

“I was always given medication to manage my period pain and no investigations were done. It turns out I had fibroids, endometriosis and adenomyosis. Had I been investigated properly earlier, I may have avoided a total hysterectomy.”

Maria Caulfield, the minister for women’s health, said that some of the revelations in the responses were “shocking”. She added: It is not right that over three quarters of women feel the health care service has not listened. This must be addressed.” She said the vision document was the “first step to realising our ambition of a healthcare system which supports women’s needs throughout their lives.”

The vision document has been welcomed by campaigners. Mika Simmons, co-chair of the Ginsburg Women’s Health Board, an independent advisory organisation that campaigns to eliminate the gender health gap, said: “Women’s health care has been side-lined for far too long and a seismic shift now needs to happen, to correct the historical lack of efficient care. We must work together to eliminate the misunderstanding, chronic pain and loss that so many of us have suffered.”

Professor Geeta Nargund, co-founder of the Ginsburg Women’s Health Board, senior NHS consultant and medical director at CREATE Fertility, said: “The results of this consultation show unequivocally that our health care system needs more support for women’s reproductive health and that across every age group women face hurdles in accessing the medical care or information they need. It reconfirms why this consultation was so important and now that we have the results we must work to address the issues raised and develop policies that will close the gender health gap.”