Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:42 pm on 5 July 2022.
I think what we're starting to realise is the importance of gender-specific healthcare in its widest meaning, and the need to tailor healthcare for the needs of more than half the population. It's not just specifically about gender-specific conditions or illnesses, it's the fact that women have not featured enough in our thinking about conditions that affect both men and women, but where there is a specific and a particular women's perspective. The needs of women have even been ignored or not given enough attention even when there is disproportionate impact on women of those conditions. You mentioned some of them. Heart disease is one that comes up quite often. Asthma is another one. Migraine is another one. And those have been referred to by the Minister.
I would, though, point out that whilst the Minister, and I agree entirely with her, says that she wants to put on the record that when we talk about women's health and women's healthcare we're not just talking about gynaecological services or reproductive health, and then she goes on to name the things that are being done already, and following the life-course approach set out by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, and talking about the specialist endometriosis nurses and pelvic health and well-being co-ordinators that are being put in place, and the Bloody Brilliant awareness resource, and the work on menopause. These are all gender-specific issues, and I just want to make sure that the Government isn't falling already into the trap of listing only those gender-specific issues. I'm confident, given this more wide-ranging look now, that that won't be the case, but we always need to keep sounding that warning.
Two questions, quite simple, at the end from me: what resources are being set aside now for the 10-year plan? Because, as important as the quality statement is today, it's that that I'm excited about, seeing as it's that that's going to actually make the difference in terms of making sure those services are there for women. So, what resources are being set aside for that in terms of people, and, financially, will there be additional resources, or is this just going to be about making sure that our health boards, within their current resources, do enough to ensure that women's health is given the attention that it deserves? And also, so that we can hold Government to account on this, how will women, and how will we as parliamentarians, know that that plan is making a difference? How will women be able to witness and sense and get a feeling that there has been a change and that that is having a clear impact on the care that they receive within our health and care services?