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

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:19 pm on 26 April 2022.

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Photo of Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan Labour 4:19, 26 April 2022

Thanks very much. Can I tell you that endometriosis is an area that I have really tried to focus on, because I think it's an area that's been neglected for far too long? And that's one of the reasons why, by the end of this term, I will be producing a women's health plan, because I do think that it's really important that we focus on women's health. There are so many areas where we need to understand. What is diabetes in women? How does that affect women? Asthma in women, autism in women, all of these different areas—we need to have a women's lens put on all of these different conditions. But endometriosis is an area where we already have the women's implementation group, which has been set up for a number of years, and they've actually started to deliver. So, I'm really pleased that we already, now, have experts in terms of endometriosis nurses in every health board. Of course we need more surgeons who are able to deal with this, but this is all part of a plan. We can't switch it on overnight, but those nurses are in place. I've been to hear them and been to presentations with them, explaining and describing how to tell patients to manage pain. I'm really delighted that we've already appointed two national clinical leads for pain management, one in Aneurin Bevan and one in Powys, and I hope that those people living with endometriosis will be able to access those as well. So, there's a lot more work to be done on endometriosis, but I'm very pleased with the progress that we're already making.