Suffolk women urged to speak out over gynaecological pain and delays in care
Healthwatch Suffolk is asking women to share their experiences after research identified concerns, including long waits and dismissed symptoms
Women across Suffolk are being urged to share their experiences of seeking NHS help for gynaecological and period pain as part of research aimed at improving local care.
Healthwatch Suffolk is gathering accounts from people who have sought support for issues including pelvic or ovarian pain, endometriosis, fibroids, period pain and cramps.
The independent health and social care champion says evidence it has already gathered suggests some women face barriers to care, including symptoms being dismissed and delays in receiving a diagnosis.
Previous Healthwatch research has also heard from people affected by lengthy waits for gynaecological treatment.
Wendy Herber, independent chair at Knowing Works, which runs the Healthwatch Suffolk contract, said concerns about women's health had emerged through several areas of its work.
She said: “Some of the stuff around gynaecological waits were really surprising. They were really long.”
Ms Herber said those waits could have wider consequences for people trying to work or care for children and other family members.
She added: “The implications of having to wait for support on this stuff was really tough.”
‘Really affecting people's lives’
Healthwatch Suffolk says the new research will look at people's experiences across GPs, hospitals, specialist services and other healthcare providers.
Ms Herber said evidence from previous work, its public feedback and research involving young people had convinced the organisation that the subject warranted further investigation.
She said: “It just suddenly became an area that we realised was really important, really affecting people's lives and was getting very little attention.”
Healthwatch now wants to understand what people themselves identify as the biggest problems rather than beginning its research with predetermined conclusions.
Ms Herber added: “We wanted to know what people think, what's really happening to them and what's important.”
Healthwatch wants experiences to shape change
The organisation says the accounts it receives will be used to identify what is working well, where improvements may be needed and what people in Suffolk need from services in the future.
Ms Herber said Healthwatch is already speaking to health and care leaders about the project, who she said have been supportive and have also identified the area as an issue.
She said the first stage was deliberately focused on listening to people's stories.
“We're trying to really gather from people's stories, like what are the real issues that we need to ask and what are the real questions that we really need to lean into,” she said.
Healthwatch hopes that will allow its researchers to “actually get to the root of the problem”.
‘Sometimes it's about people, sometimes it's about systems’
Asked about barriers to women's healthcare, Ms Herber said there was no single explanation and praised healthcare staff working under pressure.
She said: “Sometimes it's about people, sometimes it's about systems.”
Ms Herber said Healthwatch had spoken to “some amazing people in the health and care system” who were committed to providing the best service possible while facing significant pressures.
However, she argued some healthcare systems had failed to keep pace with changes in women's lives.
“Often the systems are kind of still very 1950s, last 20th century kind of stuff,” she said.
“We don't live those lives anymore. Women don't operate in that way anymore.”
She described gynaecological health as a “whole world of pain and inconvenience and everything else that goes with it” which was often not discussed.
Changes ‘not always massively expensive’
Healthwatch has not yet set out recommendations for local healthcare providers because Ms Herber said it wants those recommendations to be driven by the evidence it receives.
She said its previous research had shown that improvements sought by patients did not necessarily require significant additional spending.
“What people want isn't always massively expensive. It's not always the big stuff,” she said.
Ms Herber said listening to patients could potentially help services identify problems sooner and avoid repeated appointments.
She added: “That's what we want to bring to the table, I think. And that's why we want to listen first.”
How to share your experience
Healthwatch Suffolk is asking people with experience of gynaecological or period pain to come forward, including those who have sought help through GPs, hospitals or specialist services.
People can submit their experiences anonymously through the organisation's online form, or provide contact details if they are willing to discuss their experiences further.
Ms Herber said the issue remained “misunderstood or unheard” and Healthwatch wanted to hear from as many people as possible before deciding where its research should focus.
“We've got one big chance really here to make a really big difference,” she said.
“So we just want as many people engaged as we can.”
People can find out more and share their experiences through Healthwatch Suffolk's gynaecological and period pain project.