“We recognise the difficulties women face in accessing specialist services for health conditions, particularly surgery for endometriosis. Officials are working with the women’s health network and the Gynaecology Implementation Network to strengthen secondary care, and with the joint commissioning committee to explore establishing specialist commissioned services for tertiary care.” – Eluned Morgan, First Minister of Wales
Long time followers of FTWW will know that we have been campaigning for improved access to specialist services since the very beginning of FTWW back in 2014, and that it was a key theme in the #WomensHealthWales Coalition report published in 2022, so we are delighted by this commitment from the First Minister. Our Founder, Debbie, sits on the Gynaecological Implementation Network representing patients across Wales and advocating for co-productive approaches to this vital work.
Diolch o galon to Jenny Rathbone MS, Joel James MS, and Delyth Jewell MS, who all raised questions around endometriosis and the normalisation of female pain in the Senedd last Tuesday, all while FTWW was also on site with Endometriosis UK chatting to Members of the Senedd and their teams about the human and economic costs of endometriosis in Wales – join us next week for our webinar on this topic!
Watch ‘Questions to the First Minister’ in full here, or you can read the transcript here.
The First Minister also mentioned the Endometriosis.Cymru website, and Jenny Rathbone highlighted the EndoMarch, which takes place in Cardiff on Sunday 23 March – more details here.