Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services – in the Senedd at 2:26 pm on 14 December 2022.
Thank you very much. I'm very sorry to hear Emily's story; she is one of many women suffering from endometriosis. We have recognised that we need to do far more in this area, and that's why we do have endometriosis nurses in all health boards across Wales. So, improvements are being made, but we also recognise that we need more doctors who can undertake the interventions necessary for many women.
In terms of the announcement, what we have done now—. This will be an announcement made by the NHS, rather than by Government, but I have seen it. I've said that I am happy with the direction of travel and I very much hope that that will be published and made available during the next week. What's contained within that is the results of a consultation that we carried out with women across Wales to ask them what they think is needed in such a plan. And what we'll have is that response, what the 4,000 respondents think should be included in the plan, and then that will be taken forward and hopefully we'll have a further step forward in the summer. Because this will be a 10-year plan, and I'm very eager to ensure that we don't just look at issues related to gynaecology and those aspects of women's health, but I think it's also important that we look at things like asthma, anxiety and migraines, which impact women in a different way. So, there's a lot of work still to be done, but what was important was to ensure that it was women who felt that they could influence the shape and content of the programme.