"Women make up half our population. Their suffering should not be treated as normal."

Delyth Jewell is a Member of the Senedd for South Wales East and deputy leader of Plaid Cymru

Most women, at some point in their lives, will hear the words “this might hurt” – and not from an aggressor, but from their doctor, or nurse. Because too many intimate procedures in women’s healthcare involve pain. Women are expected to tolerate that pain. And this isn’t the fault of individual doctors or nurses, it’s because not enough focus or resource has been given to challenging that expectation. The procedures we have, be they smear tests, coil fittings, hysteroscopies – they are painful, and they’re uncomfortable. And all too often, as a result, women put off getting the help they need. Because they are worried about that pain.

This week, in the Senedd, I led a debate about women’s healthcare that focused on the desperate need to end the normalisation of this pain. Because this isn’t the only way in which women are expected to put up with pain. The stubbornly grim statistics for gynaecological cancers can partly be put down to the fact that when women talk to their doctors about the pain they’re feeling, in those parts of the bodies it’s more awkward to talk about, they’re not believed. 

Target Ovarian Centre research has found that one quarter of women in Wales report visiting their GP three or more times before being referred for tests and one third report waiting more than three months from their first appointment with their GP to receiving their diagnosis. Doctors either don’t have the training to recognise the symptoms of some cancers, or not enough research has been done into finding more accurate ways of interpreting those indistinct types of pain.

And then there are those debilitating conditions affecting women that we still don’t know enough about – because of a lack of research or understanding. Endometriosis is a condition that affects roughly 1 in 10 women, and occurs when the tissue inside the uterus begins to grow outside it, often leading to chronic pain. As the British Pregnancy Advisory Service points out, despite the prevalence of endometriosis, it remains underdiagnosed and too often misunderstood. 

With this condition and so many others, women are too often either gaslit, and told to wait and see if things get worse, or they’re psychologised, asked whether they suffer with anxiety. 

And all of that makes women, again, less likely to seek out help. Because their pain is – if not trivialised, then minimised. Played down. They are told not to trust their own gut instincts that something is wrong.

How many women’s lives are lost, or made miserable through pain, because they fall into a gap in our healthcare system, where their words aren’t trusted, their instincts dismissed? Where women are told that they don’t understand their own bodies and how they work?

In procedures, the pain that is inflicted on women is accepted as normal. And the pain women speak about, or seek help for, is also lessened.

Why should we have to put up with so much pain? Why is that normal?

I am not a medical professional, and what’s more I have the utmost respect for those who dedicate their professional lives to helping others. I am sure that the vast majority of doctors and nurses find this situation deeply concerning too. Again, this isn’t about individuals – it is about the systemic lack of research, of resource, of thought given over to lessening the need for pain in gynaecological procedures.

The absence of a dedicated women and girls’ health plan in Wales is unquestionably part of the problem.  Other governments, like the Scottish Government, the Norwegian government, the Swedish government, and the Canadian Government, have all published versions of Women and Girls’ Health plans. They have allowed those countries to focus more on ensuring women’s voices are central to their healthcare. Wales is lagging behind.

Our First Minister has laudably spoken about tackling this issue, at long last. But it should not have taken so long. Again, how many women have been lost or have had to endure unacceptable levels of pain because of this delay?

The motion I presented to the Senedd (which was passed unanimously) called for there to be a legal requirement for healthcare providers to collect feedback from female patients about their experiences – especially about gynaecological appointments, midwifery and postnatal services, perinatal mental health and menopause. Too many women are left feeling isolated, violated and in pain after these appointments. It shouldn’t be normal. We have an obligation to ensure that it isn’t.

I also called for the Welsh Government to use its influence to change the curriculums of healthcare courses that are delivered and funded within Wales, to provide additional training in women’s healthcare, and to influence national regulatory bodies like the General Medical Council and the Royal College of General Practitioners to tailor aspects of their training standards to better address women’s health.

I called for them to support research into women’s health issues, particularly into pain-perception and gynaecological cancers. We should be learning from other parts of the world that have found innovative ways of tackling low and late diagnosis rates, like introducing mail-in testing kits for cervical cancer, as happens in Denmark.

The pain suffered by women in their healthcare can be both physical and psychological. It is unacceptable, and it is costing lives. I hope that, now my motion in the Senedd has passed, it will result in improved guidance, changes in procedures, and better training for health professionals. Women make up half our population. Their suffering should not be treated as normal.

This is a shortened, adapted version of a speech given by Delyth Jewell in the Senedd on 2 October

Comments are closed.