(1 day, 15 hours ago)
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Baroness Nargund
To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the implications of research published in the journal Nature Medicine on 5 October which found that women report suffering more pain than men at every body site studied.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Care (Baroness Merron) (Lab)
My Lords, it is unacceptable that women spend more years in poor health than men, while pain is too often dismissed and normalised. Our renewed women’s health strategy treats this as a systemic failure, and this research reinforces that. Patient-reported measures will be introduced in gynaecology services to assess whether women’s pain is heard and effectively treated, alongside testing patient power payments, which will be linked to women’s feedback, including their experience of pain.
Baroness Nargund (Lab)
My Lords, I thank my noble friend the Minister for her reply. This large international study has found that more women report pain across 11 body sites compared to men, and over half of them report that their pain has been either ignored or dismissed by healthcare professionals. Given that pain is a leading cause of disability and reduced economic participation, can my noble friend tell us what concrete steps the Government are taking to tackle the gender pain gap and the gender pain management gap, and what actions will be taken if healthcare professionals continue to ignore or dismiss women’s pain?
Baroness Merron (Lab)
My noble friend’s observations are quite right. We have already updated NICE guidance and introduced courses in order to strengthen professional education across a range of conditions. We have introduced targeted initiatives, including the Getting It Right First Time chronic pain workstream. Our introduction of Jess’s rule and Martha’s rule will mean that women can challenge when symptoms persist or they feel that they are not being listened to. We are developing a new multiprofessional capability framework for women’s healthcare in community settings, and that will address a pattern of women’s symptoms being dismissed or normalised.
Baroness Pidgeon (LD)
My Lords, the Government’s women’s health strategy pledges to eliminate the diagnostic issues for women with endometriosis. In the light of Emma Barnett’s recent BBC documentary and Endometriosis UK’s finding that women wait an average of nine years and four months for a diagnosis, will the Minister support the charity’s call for diagnosis times to be reduced to one year or less by 2030, and commit to publishing national data to track progress?
Baroness Merron (Lab)
Women are waiting far too long, which is the reason for the renewal of the women’s health strategy. We have, through the National Institute for Health and Care Research, commissioned a number of studies which are very much focused on the points that the noble Baroness is raising, which are endometriosis diagnosis, treatment and, importantly, experience. We have committed over £4.3 million for new research projects, including a trial to evaluate the effectiveness of pain management programmes, and the noble Baroness will be aware of our commitment for waiting times to be reduced in order that patients, including those with endometriosis, can know exactly what to expect.
Lord Kamall (Con)
My Lords, the Minister said that women’s pain and pain management will be addressed by the forthcoming women’s health strategy. What specific goals and objectives have been set and what accountability will there be if those goals and objectives are not met?
Baroness Merron (Lab)
Action 4 commits to testing patient power payments, and we are prioritising gynaecology services as a test. That will mean that if a woman’s feedback, which will be actively sought, is not what it should be based on their experience—and that includes pain—then payments can be withheld and invested to improve the situation. I am sure the House appreciates that often it is finance which drives change, and this is just one of our new ways of doing that.
Lord Watts (Lab)
My Lords, does the Minister agree that the country needs to target the poorest members of our community, male and female, whose health is worse than the average and who need the resources that we require?
Baroness Merron (Lab)
I agree with that. That is why, in the 10-year health plan and in our manifesto commitments, we are working towards the commitment to halve the gap in healthy life expectancy between the richest and the poorest regions, and setting a minimum standard of healthy life expectancy of 61 years in all areas. That is consistent with halving the gap, and means that we will give attention to all regions of the country, particularly those that need it most.
Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Lab)
My noble friend will not be surprised that I ask about osteoporosis. Not only are the fractures themselves painful but so too is the recuperation, and it is particularly women who are affected. As my noble friend knows, I am still awaiting a little more reassurance from the Government. Maybe she could tell us the moves that they will make on this.
Baroness Merron (Lab)
As I have previously committed to and confirmed, as my noble friend will be aware of, the 10-year health plan reaffirms the commitment to rolling out fracture liaison services by 2030 as part of more devolved health services. We continue to work with integrated care boards to make that happen, while investing, for example, £2.6 million in 20 new state-of-the-art DEXA scanners, building on the first wave of investment of £1.9 million in 13 of the scanners last year.
Baroness Hussein-Ece (LD)
My Lords, recent reports have shown a clear lack of awareness and understanding of women’s reproductive health conditions among primary health care practitioners. Other reports have cited that what is needed is to remove the stigma and for there to be more training and awareness, so that women across the country, wherever they live and whoever their GP might be, can expect the same level of support and pain relief should they need it.
Baroness Merron (Lab)
I certainly agree. Looking back at the 2022 women’s health strategy, 84% of women experienced not being listened to by a healthcare professional. As I have already stated, that is totally unacceptable. A third of those women said that this had harmed their mental well-being. This is a very serious matter and that is why we are strengthening professional education across a range of conditions, testing out the patient power payments and introducing patient reported-experience measures. All those should drive improvements of care over the next five years, some more immediately than others.
Lord Patel (CB)
My Lords, one of the commendable objectives defined in the 10-year health plan is the development of women’s health centres. Can the Minister confirm that these will be not just advisory centres but diagnostic and, if possible, treatment centres, and that they will be appropriately staffed and funded?
Baroness Merron (Lab)
The centres will very much take a multidisciplinary approach, not least because they are about seeing women as a whole rather than as a condition. That is the big change we will see. It will inspire change across neighbourhood health services, not just in respect of women.
Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall (Lab)
My Lords, does my noble friend agree that even where chronic pain has been identified in women, or in men, there is often considerable reluctance to accept the available treatment, because long-term pain is very often treated with drugs which have quite significant side effects? Can my noble friend say what work is being done, possibly supported by the health service, to develop pain relief strategies which do not create those side effects?
Baroness Merron (Lab)
Women are certainly more likely to experience multiple long-term and limiting conditions, and with that comes pain. In addition, we are absolutely committed to ensuring that there is a standard of care for, for example, gynaecological procedures such as hysteroscopy. We have consulted with the Campaign Against Painful Hysteroscopy for women with lived experiences around painful procedures, and we have gathered their insights. That is an approach we will continue to take as we develop pain management pathways across a whole range of conditions.