Debate contribution: Women’s Health Strategy

Debate contribution by Ms Sinéad McLaughlin on 16 March 2026.

MLA

Ms Sinéad McLaughlin

Party at the time

Social Democratic and Labour Party

Date

16 March 2026

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Women’s Health Strategy

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5449083

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I thank the proposer of the motion. It is a really important issue to debate on the Floor of the House. The motion speaks to an important issue and paints a stark picture. Women's health in Northern Ireland is still not seen as the priority that it should be. Since I was elected to the House in 2020, I have repeatedly raised the need for a dedicated women's health strategy — a strategy that is women-centred, properly resourced and shaped around the real experiences of women, including those living in areas where access to services is already difficult. Too often, women here feel that their symptoms are dismissed, that responses to their concerns are delayed and that their treatment comes far later than it should. That is not because the need is not known; it is because the system has never been fully designed with women's health at its core. Endometriosis is one of the clearest examples of that failure, and that has already been raised today. That condition affects around one in 10 women, yet it still takes years, on average, to receive a diagnosis. For many, those years are lived in chronic pain with fatigue, fertility problems and a serious impact on mental health and family well-being. In my constituency, I have spoken to women who were passed from appointment to appointment without answers; women who were told that their pain was normal; and women who felt that they had to push again and again simply to be listened to. That experience should concern every one of us in the Chamber, because it shows a system that is not responding quickly enough or fairly enough. We also know from engagement carried out in the north-west, including the work of Derry Well Women and Queen's University, that women want to see a different approach. It is my understanding that the Minister will receive their final report just after Easter. Those women want services that are far easier to access, clearer to navigate and more responsive to the realities of their lives, but, most of all, they want to know that women's health is being treated as a priority rather than an afterthought. The Department has indicated that work is under way on a women's health action plan: that is welcome, but we want to see it. Where is it? The group in the report says that what it really needs is, obviously, the publication of the action plan, but the group also wants a commitment to a funded strategy that reflects the findings that will be placed at the heart of the report. Recognition on its own is not enough. We still wait to see that plan published, funded and implemented, and that is why the motion goes further and rightly so. What is required is not just a short-term plan but a full women's health strategy with clear direction, clear targets and clear accountability. It must look at women's health across the whole life course from adolescence through to maternity, menopause and later life. Women's health does not sit neatly in one part of the system; it runs through primary care, hospital services, mental health, sexual health, screening and community provision. Without a joined-up approach and a framework that shapes and closes the gaps, those gaps will continue to appear, and the delays will continue.

There is also a regional dimension that cannot be ignored. Women in the north-west, rural communities and areas where services are already stretched often face the longest waits and the greatest difficulty in getting the care that they need. Equality in health provision does not just mean that services exist somewhere; it means that women can access them when they need them. That is why the motion's reference to section 75 is important. We have a statutory duty to ensure equality in the way in which public services are delivered. That duty must apply to women's health just as much as it applies anywhere else. If the system is not producing equal outcomes, we have a responsibility to ask why and to fix it. The motion does not ask for anything unreasonable. It asks for transparency about the work that has already been promised; a clear timeline for delivery; and a fully costed and time-bound women's health strategy that is developed with the people who rely on those services every day.

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

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 15:13 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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