Debate contribution: Endometriosis Care

Debate contribution by Mr Danny Donnelly on 29 September 2025.

MLA

Mr Danny Donnelly

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

29 September 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Endometriosis Care

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5139480

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker. Between 2020 and 2023, the average length of time for an endometriosis diagnosis in Northern Ireland increased from eight years and six months to nine years and five months. Women here sit for almost a decade in, as we have heard, debilitating pain and with an increased risk of infertility, internal scarring and organ damage. Nothing is being learned, and the situation is getting worse. Again and again, the Assembly fails women, leaving them behind in comparison with their counterparts elsewhere on these islands. I was struck by one report, in which a woman was quoted as saying:

"I had a doctor literally laugh at me down the phone for asking for sterilisation."

I was struck by the lack of regard for women's autonomy over their healthcare. In that case, a woman making a personal medical decision was denied the opportunity to choose. On the other side, women with endometriosis, many of whom want children, are denied autonomy by a failing system that ignores them and leaves them untreated for nearly a decade, causing infertility and robbing them of that choice. The system as it stands robs women of autonomy over their health, simply because they are women. That is again cemented in the article "Misdiagnosis: The Overlooked Crisis In Women's Health", which speaks of the dismissal of women's pain being widespread and points to endometriosis as being the most frequently misdiagnosed gynaecological condition. The article highlights the fact that 74% of women saw five or more doctors before diagnosis; 47% saw 10 or more; and 78% said that "their concerns were minimised" as "making a fuss". The article reflects on the broader pattern of women's symptoms being downplayed by healthcare professionals as "just normal women's problems". Sit with that for a second: debilitating pain, infertility, internal scarring and organ damage are not "just normal women's problems". The fact that a person facing a health issue is a woman cannot be used as a reason for delaying care and causing lasting harm. Pain or health concerns should not be considered less because it is a woman who is facing them. That fact, which is out in the open and so often seems prevalent now, shows that there is deeply ingrained medical misogyny. That needs to change. I recognise that there is a need to speak out, but I also recognise my position. I do not know what it is like to live with the health issues that we are discussing. As a man and a healthcare professional, my role in the debate is to listen, support and make space for the women who know. I will mention another issue that the British Heart Foundation has raised recently. The Minister is probably aware of its report 'Bias and Biology: The Heart Attack Gender Gap', which highlights the gender inequalities for women who have heart attacks. Women are more likely than men to receive a delayed diagnosis following a heart attack and are less likely than men to receive timely, guideline-indicated treatments following a heart attack. Women thus have a higher mortality rate. That is another clear example of why we need the women's health action plan to include cardiac issues as well as menopause and fertility. The idea that women, rather than men, die from a heart attack because one is treated differently from the other for the condition is horrendous. I will finish by giving some women's experiences in their own words. On menopause:

"I was told by a male GP that I would be 'better talking to one of the lady doctors' as he didn’t know much about menopause or menopausal symptoms."

Another woman said:

"To receive menopause support I have had to pay privately as the GP doesn't have the necessary training to give proper advice."

On gynaecology issues:

"I suffered severe pain in my teens and twenties during the first few days of my period every month. I couldn't go to school or work; it affected my life every month. My GP prescribed painkillers and that was it. I was never checked out for gynae issues, never referred, just expected to get on with it."

That is something of a theme: we have heard it again and again today. On endometriosis:

"Ever since my [endometriosis] operation, I've had no follow up appointments or support or any advice on how to manage things e.g. with diet / lifestyle. I've had to do it all myself using social media and finding out how I can prevent flare ups / prevent it from returning."

On the support that is available:

"I find more support in social media groups by women going through similar situations than the GPs, who, in most cases, are not specialising in women's health".

Another stated:

"I feel that health providers are just keen to medicate and send you off rather than looking further into the diagnosis".

On the change that they wanted to see:

"For healthcare professionals to listen to women about their health and not minimise their symptoms or blame weight, hormones or putting it down to anxiety";

and:

"We need to be listened to! I am so tired of being dismissed, distressed and disrespected".

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

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 13:18 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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