Debate contribution: Women's Health Strategy

Debate contribution by Ms Sinéad McLaughlin on 13 February 2024.

MLA

Ms Sinéad McLaughlin

Party at the time

Social Democratic and Labour Party

Date

13 February 2024

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Women's Health Strategy

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4206226

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, and congratulations on taking up your position as Deputy Speaker. The SDLP will support the motion and the amendment. Last year, a woman who was waiting for surgery for endometriosis came into my office. Debilitating pain had forced her to leave a job that she loved in the health service. Years later, she was still languishing on a waiting list, weighing up whether to remortgage her family home to pay for private treatment. She is not alone. That is just one of the countless stories from women who face barrier after barrier in accessing healthcare. Last year, I carried out a survey of women's experiences. I had over 500 responses, which painted a stark picture of a broken and inaccessible service. I have delivered the full report to the Department of Health. Hopefully, the Minister will know that 90% of respondents felt that there was inadequate service provision for the biggest healthcare issues affecting women. They listed gynaecological health, mental health, maternal health, menopause support and many other issues, and I am deeply grateful to them for their personal stories. They were stories of pain that had been dismissed, of conditions that had been misdiagnosed and of a taboo that had set in when discussing menopause, sex education or periods. They were just some of the almost 10,000 women across the North who have been waiting more than a year for their first appointment with a gynae consultant. That research adds to the mountain of evidence that differences in how women are assessed, diagnosed and treated add up to huge inequalities. For example, research shows that endometriosis affects 1·5 million women in the UK. A similar number of women are affected by diabetes. However, while diabetes services are well established, there is a devastating lack of support for women with endometriosis. It is long past time —.

I thank the Member for her intervention. Absolutely: it can take anything from 10 to 15 years to be diagnosed with endometriosis. I suffered my first symptoms of endometriosis when I was about 16, but I was 26 before I was diagnosed. That was back in a different decade — the 1990s — but, unfortunately, our diagnosis process has not moved on since that time; in fact, some of the gaps are getting larger. It is long past time that the inequalities faced by women accessing healthcare were addressed by following the example of every other part of these islands and agreeing a comprehensive and fully funded women's health strategy. While an action plan is under way — that is to be commended — there is no substitute for a strategy with meaningful timelines and funding attached that can address the inequalities that women face in their lives from puberty through to postmenopause. I have engaged extensively with grassroots women's organisations across the north-west like Derry Well Women, the Women's Centre Derry and many more. They have been forced to plug the gap in statutory services, delivering programmes on the ground for women who are in desperate need. Now is not the time to start small. Women deserve ambition. That is why a women's health strategy must end the postcode lottery for services through regional bands. That means rolling out regional women's health hubs, where women from across the North can secure faster access to treatment. That includes abortion services. The Health Minister must fulfil his obligation in providing those services: abortion is healthcare. A women's health strategy should also introduce better training for healthcare professionals, funded research on gender inequalities in healthcare and the collection of the right data to inform that policy. Our healthcare workers are dedicated, but they need to be supported by the right tools. The development of a women's healthcare strategy must incorporate the voices of all women, particularly those who are black and minority-ethnic, disabled and LGBT. Only by being fully inclusive can the strategy be fully effective. I firmly believe that the work should be led at a senior level. England has appointed a Women's Health Ambassador, and we should follow their lead so that one person can lead on the implementation of the strategy. An ambitious, intersectional, regionally balanced women's health strategy has the power to improve women's lives and their outcomes radically, but women are literally sick and tired of waiting.

722 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 09:35 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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