Women and girls are being left to “suck it up” and endure pain for years due to a lack of awareness surrounding painful reproductive conditions, according to a new report.
They frequently have their health problems dismissed due to “medical misogyny”, “pervasive stigma” and a lack of education surrounding common conditions including endometriosis, heavy periods and adenomyosis, according to MPS on the Women and Equalities Committee.
The committee set out to examine the experiences of care that women with reproductive conditions get in England. They found that symptoms are often “normalised” and it can take years for women to get a diagnosis and to get care.
As a result, women are left 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, according to the committee’s latest report.
The MPs suggest that there is a lack of medical research, treatment options and specialists, which leaves many women seeking private care. This is coupled with the “deprioritisation” of gynaecological care, with waiting lists growing faster than any other specialty.
“Although there are patches of progress since the women’s health strategy for England published in 2022, it has been too slow,” the report said.
The committee also criticised the menstrual health element of relationships, sex and health education, saying it is “insufficient and inconsistent”, and often delivered too late to be of use. They said that girls are leaving school not knowing what constitutes a “normal” period, unequipped to spot the symptoms of reproductive health conditions.
Meanwhile, the MPs highlighted how women undergo “harrowing experiences” of painful procedures such as having a contraceptive coil fitted or a hysteroscopy – a test to look inside a woman’s womb.
TV presenter Naga Munchetty, who previously shared her traumatic experience of having a coil fitted and has been vocal about the poor care she received for adenomyosis, gave evidence to the committee alongside former Geordie Shore star Vicky Pattison, who has pre-menstrual dysphoric disorder. The women said that NHS medical staff need to “take women seriously” when it comes to health problems.
Millions of women facing longer waiting times
The i Paper has long highlighted gender disparities in care as millions of women continue to face longer waiting times for gynaecological treatment, an endometriosis diagnosis or help with chronic urinary tract infections (UTIs).
In March, a report found that it now takes nearly nine years to diagnose endometriosis in the UK, with women in Wales and Northern Ireland facing the longest delays. The disease is where tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows outside the uterus. It can cause severe pain in the pelvis and make it harder to get pregnant.
Diagnosis times have increased to eight years and 10 months in both England and Scotland; to nine years and five months in Northern Ireland; and nine years 11 months in Wales, the Endometriosis UK survey found.
In May, one single mother with endometriosis told The i Paper that getting personal independence payments (PIP) is “near-on impossible” as the condition can be misunderstood by GPs and benefits assessors. Amy Hughes, 27, from Petworth, West Sussex, said she was denied PIP despite receiving her endometriosis diagnosis in February last year after being symptomatic for 13 years.
In July, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) said all the main parties’ general election manifestos were “disappointing” when it came to women’s healthcare.
Last month, a report by the College found over three quarters of a million (763,694) women are currently waiting for months and years with serious gynaecological conditions. The number of women waiting for hospital gynaecology services would fill Wembley stadium eight times over.
GP surgeries have been singled out in the report, with the authors highlighting 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. The authors made a series of recommendations for the health service and Government to improve care.
Committee chairwoman Sarah Owen said: “Our inquiry has shown misogyny in medicine is leaving women in pain and their conditions undiagnosed. Women are finding their symptoms dismissed, are waiting years for life-changing treatment and in too many cases are being put through trauma-inducing procedures. All the while, their conditions worsen and become more complicated to treat.
“Up to one in three women live with heavy menstrual bleeding, one in ten have a condition such as endometriosis or adenomyosis. It cannot be right that despite the prevalence of these conditions, that such a lack of understanding and awareness persists. This issue is impacting so many women across the country from their teens through to their retirement.”
She said the report must act as a “wake-up call” to the NHS and called on the Government to act to help transform services.
The Royal College of Obstretricians and Gynaecologists president Dr Ranee Thakar said: “This report paints a sad, but unsurprising, picture of the reality facing women with reproductive health issues in this country.
“As we highlighted in our response to the NHS 10-year-plan consultation, we must see movement on, and funding for, the Women’s Health Strategy implementation and the expansion of the Women’s Health Hub model – to provide women with comprehensive and joined up healthcare throughout their lives.
“This report reiterates that increasing funding gynaecology care provides a significant return on investment. Investment in women is investment in wider society, and we implore the Government to meet their manifesto commitment to prioritise women’s health policies and funding to deliver real change.”
An NHS England spokesperson said: “Too often in the NHS we hear of women whose health concerns have been dismissed, which is why we are taking action to improve services for women, including rolling out women’s health hubs across the country.
“The hubs are giving thousands more women access to specialist support in the community which not only improves access and women’s experiences of care, but also helps to upskill healthcare professionals with a full range of staff working in one place. The NHS is also developing a network of women’s health champions made up of senior leaders in every local care system to drive forward improvements in women’s health.”
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