5. Statement by the Minister for Health and Social Services: Planned Care Recovery Plan

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:17 pm on 26 April 2022.

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Photo of Heledd Fychan Heledd Fychan Plaid Cymru 4:17, 26 April 2022

Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. Minister, as we discussed in this Chamber during endometriosis month, the disease has a devastating impact on sufferers. A constituent of mine has contacted me saying that she was told by her consultant at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital yesterday that the NHS aren't doing any operations at all for women with endometriosis—so, no diagnostic laparoscopies, no excision, no thermal ablation. She was due to have an operation a week before the first lockdown in 2020 and six months ago had a call from the medical secretary asking if she would be prepared to go to the Spire for treatment paid for by the NHS, to which she said, 'Yes, of course.' But yesterday she was told to give up any hope of getting surgery—no timescales at all. She has to have an injection every month to chemically induce the menopause and will be put on hormone replacement therapy, something that she's very concerned about because of all the press reports about the shortages with HRT at present, and also because she received this treatment 15 years ago and was made very ill from this treatment. She told me, 'I feel completely invisible.' How do we ensure that she and others like her do not feel invisible?