To demand dedicated centres to support womens health. Can we have a MN Campaign please

[BenCooperisaGod]

I am heading into the menopause and have been trying to prepare myself for it. I have just finished the excellent podcast 28ish days later. In it (the last episode) Prof Lesley Regan calls for dedicated health care centres for women. So in one go, we can have smears, mammograms, have our contraceptive and menopause needs addressed, have our gynae issues addressed by suitably informed and educated people.

Today, we have chronically under diagnosed endometriosis and PCOS, we have desperate menopausal women trading hormones elicitly, we are facing an epidemic of cancers diagnosed later than they should and hoardes of women with repeat miscarriage and no answers as to why and there is naff all research into any of this.

Anyone feel a mumsnet campaign coming on? @JustineMumsnet @mnhq you up for it?

Oh, the Womans health strategy is about to be announced, so the timing feels ripe.

I am amazed that of 6 votes, 2 think YABU. What is unreasonable about wanting decent and dedicated health care for women?

YANBU.

And it needs to go hand in hand with better training for medical professionals on women's health, how certain ailments and conditions present differently in girls and women than they do in men. Women are more likely to have symptoms minimised or even dismissed altogether because "hormones", there was a thread on MN a while ago asking women to share a time their health issues were ignored by health professionals simply because they're a woman and it was both eye opening and enraging.

YANBU.

And it needs to go hand in hand with better training for medical professionals on women's health, how certain ailments and conditions present differently in girls and women than they do in men. Women are more likely to have symptoms minimised or even dismissed altogether because "hormones", there was a thread on MN a while ago asking women to share a time their health issues were ignored by health professionals simply because they're a woman and it was both eye opening and enraging.

YANBU.

And it needs to go hand in hand with better training for medical professionals on women's health, how certain ailments and conditions present differently in girls and women than they do in men. Women are more likely to have symptoms minimised or even dismissed altogether because "hormones", there was a thread on MN a while ago asking women to share a time their health issues were ignored by health professionals simply because they're a woman and it was both eye opening and enraging.

We need all the services, and for them to be readily accessible.

But I don't think we need them all to be co-located, and indeed I can see organisational issues in making the attempt. Unless you really to want people to have to go to the nearest hospital with a gynae dept to get a smear, rather than at their GP. Because portmanteau centres will need to be where the relevant specialists are based, which won't be out in the community, where routine services are generally more readily available

Apologies, I don't know why that's posted multiple times

I reckon i must be getting above myself @Whatafool123 !

I work in a healthcare related field, and have held workshops with men and women about certain aspects of their health. Men were always much harder to get to open up. I had always assumed this was just down to socialisation, but it has more recently dawned on me just how much more present our health needs are in our daily lives, from menarche to death.
Men only have to really think about male specific health issues once prostate cancer becomes a risk. So they are slow to talk because they have never had to, and just don't have a shared language. Whereas women have been aware of their female specific health needs since the age of 10.

I really recommend the 28ish days later podcast. It has really helped me appreciate just how complex our bodies are, and how neglected our health needs are.

No the centres absolutely need to be in the community, probably with a model similar to the Rapid Diagnostic Centres.

www.england.nhs.uk/cancer/faster-diagnosis/

There could possibly be cost savings from bringing it all the different specialisms and services into one space. There would certainly be health economic benefit if the reproductive and and menstrual care needs of 51% of the population were better managed (fewer days off work, longer careers, fewer GP visits). There would be more research, which will in turn improve outcomes.

So in one go, we can have smears, mammograms, have our contraceptive and menopause needs addressed, have our gynae issues addressed by suitably informed and educated people.

We actually have this in the US (where I'm from) in the sense that most women have their regular gynecologist who they see once a year for a checkup or whenever there are any issues. So there is one person you go to for all of the above. Same in Germany, where I lived for a while.

I agree with your proposal but also it's absolutely insane in this country that women cannot directly access gynecological care. If we could, we wouldn't need bespoke centres!

The first step would be to clamp down on ridiculous so-called "inclusive" language like cervix havers, menstruators, bleeders - absolutely disgusting terminology.

If we can't name our physicality and biology, that's a major hurdle.