Government launches call for evidence to improve health and wellbeing of women in England

[3beesinmybonnet]

Just had this come up in my newsfeed:

www.gov.uk/government/news/government-launches-call-for-evidence-to-improve-health-and-wellbeing-of-women-in-england

I believe it should be made compulsory (if not already) for doctors to be taught modules on how female bodies are not used as the "default".

Also to be presented in these module training sessions with peer reviewed articles and studies on the many times women are not listened to, and how this affects mortality rates.

Eg

Endometriosis- ignored/dismissed.

Black and Asian women mortality rates in pregnancy, childbirth and stillbirth.

How access to abortions in the UK are disjointed eg Northern Ireland V rest of UK.

Heart conditions. Many professions such as my own are taught how to deal with critical case heart conditions. All the training bumpft is "How to spot someone is having a heart failure crisis - in males"

(BTW. What (not including old age) is the number 1-5 killers of women and men the UK?)

Have seen that it is England only.

Being the UK, we travel/work/live across borders in the UK, so I think we can all still contribute.

If men got cystitis there’d be a vaccine now😡

Women only? Are there not men who can contribute, even if only to relate the experience of a loved one who is unable to do so (their mother, their wife, their daughter for example), perhaps because they are incapacitated or have died?

The impact of the menopause and more understanding occurred to me.

Excuse grammar. Am doing dishes.

#KitchenSinkDramas

peak It's probably best left to be a womens-only voices experience/submission.

(No problem with those women having a designated Scribe)

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow

Men do get cystitis, and as far as I'm aware you can't prevent bacteriological infection with vaccines.

Personally, I'd like the NHS to stop viewing every woman's lifestyle and personal choices through the prism of pregnancy and motherhood being a default state. Refused sterilisation 'just in case', questioned at a pre-termination appointment 'because this might be your last chance' etc I doubt they similarly query women who express a wish to conceive or continue a pregnancy. Imagine doctors asking you 'are you really sure you want to have children/are you sure you want to continue this pregnancy' by default. It's not their job to question your personal choice.

Good point Down.

Cholera and TB amongst others are caused by infections, both have vaccines.

Men don’t get the repeated misery of constant bacterial cystitis infections after sex. My early adulthood was ruined by this. And this was in the 80’s/90’s, where l remember reading that a vaccine could be easily produced for this but no one bothered as it wasn’t deemed important. That was 30 years ago, and nothing’s changed. Still treated with endless antibiotics which produce resistance.

Which is what this consultation is looking at.

Down I completely agree. Also why are we, as women, drip fed information about contraception? I've been using the pill for about 15 years and almost everything I know about it I've read online. All of the advice I've been given about contraception from the nurse/GP has been terrible. Now I'm in my thirties (no kids) I also really get the feeling that there's a "why are you being so uptight about pregnancy?" vibe. As if I should just chill out and have a baby already (tick tock!).

@sagaLoren

totally agree.

This is slightly off on a tangent, but smacks of the same thing.

I have a close friend who was diagnosed with PCOS many moons ago. She was told in no uncertain terms that because of the state of her ovaries, chances of her conceiving were practically nil. She and her husband habitually used condoms anyway, as neither of them had any wish to be parents anyway. Shortly before her 40th birthday she found out she was pregnant. She did not want to continue the pregnancy, but met with all the same 'are you sure' type questions in the run up to the termination. Afterwards, she was basically taken into a room and given a dressing down for getting pregnant in the first place, then told in no uncertain terms that she wouldn't be leaving the premises without organising some form of contraception. She's no shrinking violet, but genuinely felt bullied and intimidated, so just played along. She explained that hubby was actually on the waiting list for a vasectomy, and while this was met with approval, the issue still wasn't resolved as far as the staff were concerned, so she was booked in to have a coil fitted. Coil was never inserted properly, gave her all sorts of pain and discomfort, her weight ballooned in the space of the two months it was in, her periods went haywire, and she's never been the same since.

It's the belligerence, the shaming for having the temerity to have an unwanted and unwelcome pregnancy, and the railroading to a form of contraception that she had never been comfortable with, even though her husband had taken practical steps to avoid conception himself, and she had previously been told she was practically infertile anyway. So much for pastoral care and empathy.

Down

A perfect example of what needs to be submitted.

Have you seen how this is being reported by the BBC? It's a "gender health gap" (although they do also refer to female and woman in the article). But you'd think the headline might be correct, as this is clearly one area where it's legitimately sex that matters, given that many of the conditions they are talking about are female-only. (The point about 'gender biases' might be different of course; I can see that there could also be issues like bias that affect anyone presenting as female etc).

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-56300404

I wish the Welsh Government would run a consultation like this.

I've gone to the website (a press release) and followed links. But I can't find any questions, or guidance on what they're looking for, or information on submitting evidence. The only download I was offered seems to be resources for staff.

www.gov.uk/government/news/government-launches-call-for-evidence-to-improve-health-and-wellbeing-of-women-in-england

The site says The call for evidence has been designed to be user friendly, quick to fill in and easily accessible from people’s mobiles. People who live with and care for women, organisations with experience of providing services for women and those with an expertise in women’s health are also encouraged to share their views.

It quotes Nadine Dorries saying I urge every woman, and anyone who cares for women, to feed into this call for evidence and help shape the future of women’s health.

The BBC story says From Monday 8 March, the Women's Health Strategy will spend 12 weeks speaking to female patients about a wide range of issues including maternity care and mental health.

But nothing about how to take part. Does anyone know?

It says it is running from 8 March so a link to how to respond may appear then. It is not open to responses yet.

I shall check for any links to a survey etc to fill in on Monday. If there aren't any I'll chase them up.

Thanks!

Just noticed this right at the bottom of the government press release page:

"The call for evidence will run for 12 weeks from 8 March.

To amplify this, there will be 10 weeks of activity, including widespread social media with recognisable visual identity, partnerships with female-focused media outlets including interviews, roundtables with the minister and regular engagement with stakeholders."

So in theory it sounds like it will be well advertised.

A cabinet where women are part of the senior decision makers would be a start. Almost all of the Covid 19 decisions have apparently been made by a group of male ministers, none of whom have older wives/partners.

Let's keep this bumped for the next 3 months from Monday.

Pre and post natal depression are constantly downplayed in how utterly debilitating and serious they are.

Birth injuries too.

Women's pain is always fobbed off even when our periods are so bad we can barely stand or the pain makes us physically sick it's 'just' a woman's issue. Something we have to get on with and shut up about (because men don't want to here about it)

she had previously been told she was practically infertile anyway

A few years ago I remember reading how there was a surge of women in their late 30s having abortions. Basically, the message has been hammered home for so long that women's fertility falls off a cliff at 35, a lot of women after that age haven't been bothering with contraception.

Given that 82% of women aged between 35-39 conceive within a year of having unprotected sex (which rises to 90% within two years), the constant banging on about the fertility cliff by the medical profession is actually quite irresponsible.

I'm not saying the average a 39-year-old is as fertile as a 21-year-old, but the message has been overstated.

Postnatal care is a huge issue, inc birth injuries, PNA/ PND and just support generally.

When I had my twins, they were in NICU and I was allowed to stay in as a visitor (which is great). But there was no care for me as I wasn't a patient. And I couldn't access community MW care as I was in hospital. So after giving birth, I had no aftercare - nothing - zero - no checking stitches, or blood loss, or mood, or anything, not even pain relief after 2nd degree tear.

After I got out, we took the twins for their 6w check. It used to be that 6w checks were for mum and baby. But the GP said they didn't see mums anymore, just babies.

I went back and made a separate appt when I could. I was worried I might have a prolapse. The dr's exact quote was "postpartum vaginas are messy and I don't know what I'm looking at' - but gave me antibiotics instead in case I had an infection.

And that appt is the absolute sum total of postnatal care I got from the NHS after giving birth to premature twins on a hospital floor with no pain relief or help.

That’s shocking Johnny.