Paula Sherriff: Women’s health must no longer be considered a niche
3 min read
There is a battle underway for gender equality in healthcare as real and urgent as the ones in business or politics. The APPG for Women’s Health will keep fighting to break down barriers, writes Paula Sherriff
As we celebrate 70 years of the NHS and look back over its history, we should take a moment to recognise the huge cultural changes that have taken place in that time. The role of the patient has been transformed, and so has its workforce. Once a rarity, women now make up more than 50% of medical graduates.
Inclusion and equality have taken a far more prominent position in our NHS, and each step towards this should be celebrated. Yet there is today a battle in healthcare for gender equality – as real and urgent as it is in business or in politics.
Women’s health is overlooked and underfunded. Women are not being treated with the appropriate respect and sensitivity and this is something I have been passionate about addressing since becoming an MP.
Many of my constituents, as well as clinicians and health campaigners, tell me that women are often not receiving the care that they deserve.
Women’s healthcare covers a huge arena and affects everyone, either directly or indirectly through someone they love and care about. There are areas of healthcare where women receive worse outcomes due to a lack of awareness, such as with stroke, and women are painfully affected by conditions such as polycystic ovary syndrome, prolapse, premenstrual syndrome, women’s health cancers and many others.
Whilst we all rely on and value the work of our NHS, and all those that work in the system, I have learnt that far too many women are suffering in silence about their treatment.
I hope the work of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Women’s Health can play a key role in helping to address this. The APPG is looking into issues including the take-up of cervical smears – the lowest for 20 years – and we’ve held hearings on endometriosis and fibroids, as well as campaigning to get the menopause recognised in legislation.
The group wrote an open letter to Jeremy Hunt and NHS England calling for a culture shift, for the greater empowerment of female patients in the choices available to them, the manner those choices are explained and the availability of support services both during and after treatment.
Women’s health must no longer be considered a niche, and conditions like endometriosis must attract the funding and research due to them. Our report on informed choice sought to shine a spotlight on fibroids and endometriosis as an example of where women currently lack informed choice and where it is believed a difference can be made to thousands, if not millions, of women. I am delighted that some of the Royal Colleges have agreed to work with the group moving forwards to continue work in this area.
In this landmark year in the NHS’s history, I’m proud to be a part of the campaign for equality in women’s health, and as we move forward I’ll keep fighting to break down the barriers that stop women reaching their full potential and living healthy, happy lives.
Paula Sherriff is chair of the Women’s Health APPG and a shadow health minister
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