Debate contribution: Women's Health Strategy

Debate contribution by Ms Paula Bradshaw on 13 February 2024.

MLA

Ms Paula Bradshaw

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

13 February 2024

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Women's Health Strategy

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4206311

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I wish you well in your new role. I support the motion and the amendment. I will focus my remarks on long-term specialist support for endometriosis. Before I make my comments, however, I say that I agree with all the Members who spoke and have covered a wide range of issues. If I have time at the end, I will cover a lot of those. I will start by focusing on figures and statistics relating to endometriosis, which are, indeed, shocking. Endometriosis is a painful and exhausting condition, which can lead to immense stress and discomfort, yet it is not only when diagnosed with endometriosis — I will call it "endo" — that women suffer a lack of support and recognition; it can take over a decade for the condition even to be diagnosed in the first place. Many women have told me that, in some cases, the entire journey from initial distress to surgery has taken nearly 20 years. As if the pain and exhaustion were not enough, there is the additional strain of uncertainty around diagnosis and a lack of clarity about the likely options for treatment and support, and then the seemingly interminable wait for the appropriate intervention. We have already heard that, comparatively, far more women face that uncertainty, lack of clarity and wait in Northern Ireland than elsewhere in the UK. In fact, we are not even sure how many. When I asked a question in the Assembly, during the previous mandate, about exactly how many women were waiting for diagnosis and treatment for endo, three trusts were not able to provide an answer. It is evident from the figures alone that it is long past time that those who are suffering such distress have the support that they need.

However, it is the human story that truly tells the tale. The story that I have been told countless times is one of women seeking support and not just being denied it or left to languish on a seemingly endless waiting list but being made to feel like a burden. Female pain and exhaustion are too often overlooked in medical care everywhere, and, when you add in our waiting lists and lack of specialist support, the situation here is, plainly, even worse. At this stage, I wish to pay tribute to the Northern Ireland support group for Endometriosis UK, without which many women would be in an even worse position. Its work is invaluable.

I turn to today's contributions. My colleague Nuala McAllister proposed the motion and called for a strategy to be fully costed and fully developed in a holistic approach that is co-designed with representatives across many sectors. She also highlighted the fact that it is Sexual Health Week. Linda Dillon raised the issue that, in 2022, 2,000 women lost their lives to heart disease, calling it the leading cause of death for women. She called for more timely and effective awareness raising among women. She spoke of her personal experience —.

Thank you. I fully endorse that. Ms Dillon talked about her experience of menopause, and she called for age-appropriate education in schools around menstrual issues to also include this area. Diane Dodds talked about this debate providing an uncomfortable truth about the state of services and said that we need action on this issue. She talked about the link between deprivation and poor health and went on to talk about the 17,000 women affected by the cervical smear test review in her Southern Trust area. She talked about the question of —.

Yes, I will.

Thank you. It is a very important point, and, at the all-party group on cancer, the professionals who came from the trust and from the Public Health Agency wanted us as elected reps to very much endorse that message. Thank you, Mr Chambers, and that leads me to your remarks. Thank you for attending the Chamber. You were the first male to speak in the debate, and it is really important that this is seen as not just a women's issue but a whole of society issue around getting women's health right. You mentioned that women's health issues were disregarded for a long time and said that we have to adopt a whole-life-course approach to the women's health strategy. My colleague Sinéad McLaughlin talked about the constituent with whom she has engaged who had to leave work due to the debilitating pain from endo, and she mentioned that, at times, the service is broken and inaccessible to women. She talked about the long and painful waiting times for women accessing their first gynae consultant appointment, and she talked about her own diagnosis of endo. Órlaithí Flynn talked about the APG on women's health, and I very much agree with the Member that all Members who are on that group, from across the House, have come together around these very important issues. There is genuine cross-party consensus on the need for this women's health strategy. I fully agree with her that there are so many issues there that we need to ensure that this women's health strategy is robust and inclusive of all the issues across a woman's health span. We need to catch up with other parts of these islands. Deborah Erskine talked about the amazing role of the community groups, many of which are represented in the Gallery or are looking on via our internet provision. She said that we need to ensure that they are involved and that we build on the work that they have already done. She said that we need to ensure that the actions that come from the action plan and the strategy are robust. She said that there needs to be wholesale buy-in from women, community groups and healthcare professionals and that training will be essential for GPs. My colleague Kellie Armstrong highlighted the fact that other parts of these islands — Scotland, England and Wales — already have their women's health strategies in place and that we need to ensure that, when we get ours developed, it runs in time with budgets and is fully funded. She talked about menopause and how it is life-changing, with many women having to give up their jobs and reduce their income at a time when they should be at the "peak of their careers". She also talked about her personal experience of miscarriage and of trying to access fertility treatments. In her maiden speech, Sian Mulholland, another colleague of mine, provided some insight into her constituency, saying that she is the first mother to represent North Antrim. She spoke in particular about the barriers that her constituents have in accessing healthcare in rural communities. She talked about how important perinatal mental health is and, again, shared her experience of perinatal and postnatal depression and anxiety. I thank her sincerely for that. She also mentioned the need for the specialist mother-and-baby unit and for the Minister to provide the time frame for it. I am also much indebted to Colin McGrath, who is another male who talked about the fact that we are the only region of these islands that does not have a women's health strategy. He said that we have to remove the taboo and stigma around all the issues. He highlighted the fact that we have the worst ovarian cancer survival rates here. He also referenced his colleague Sinéad McLaughlin's survey, which showed that 90% of women indicated that they feel that services for women are inadequate. He called for a women's health ambassador and said that if we build up hopes that we can take that forward, we need to ensure delivery. The Health Minister thanked everyone for their contribution. He said that the wider population of women will also have similar stories and that he has placed the issue high on his list of priorities. He explained the process around bringing forward a women's health action plan in the first instance and said that he felt that that was the right approach because it was demonstrated, through the mental health action plan, as a good way of getting the issues together and moving forward. Another point in the Minister's contribution that I felt was important was the mention of ethnicity, socio-economic groups, vulnerable and marginalised women and the need to ensure that the strategy very much takes account of different groups of women. He talked about the opportunities to make progress in the short term that come from the 'Getting It Right First Time' report around access to gynaecological services, and he explained that he is looking at the recommendations on that. Liz Kimmins closed by talking about health inequalities, gaps in healthcare and how we need to look at areas of high deprivation.

1,462 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

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.

Disagree with this assessment?

Classifications can be challenged. A person reads every challenge, and any change is recorded publicly above with its reason.

Challenge this classification