Women ‘not being listened to’ are not receiving proper diagnosis in both public and private systems, health minister says
Women are being told by health professionals that their pain is a psychological or personality issue.
That’s according to Victoria’s health minister, who detailed early findings from a women’s pain inquiry that heard from 13,000 women, girls, clinicians and carers.
Participants shared instances of sexism and misogyny in healthcare and described the toll of chronic pain on their lives and experiences of being ignored, the state government said.
About 4,500 people described living with endometriosis, 3,000 with migraines and 2,500 with period pain.
The state health minister, Mary-Anne Thomas, said it was clear women’s pain was not taken seriously enough, with women describing difficulties navigating both public and private health systems.
“Overwhelmingly, they told us that they’re not being listened to, and instead their pain is being attributed to either psychological or personality factors,” Thomas told reporters in the Melbourne suburb of Heidelberg on Tuesday.
“This is simply not good enough, when women are not being listened to it means that their diagnosis is not happening where and when it should.”
The report is yet to be finalised, and is due to be handed down at the end of 2024, but the minister expected recommendations to include educating clinicians about women’s health.
“To be frank, we have clinicians that don’t really understand a range of conditions that impact women’s health,” Thomas said.
“We can think about the courses, the degree courses that our healthcare professionals study, and whether or not they have sufficient focus on women’s health.
“We can think about the training that they receive on site in our hospitals and other healthcare settings and their ongoing professional development.”
The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners Victoria chair, Dr Anita Muñoz, said she was “not particularly surprised” by the early findings as they were backed up by two decades worth of academic literature.
“Women, when they’re presenting with pain, have long reported that they have difficulty being heard and understood,” Muñoz said.
“There are lots of different diagnoses made when women present with pain, particularly gynaecological and pelvic pain.”
She said the current rebate system rewarded GPs for spending “less time, not more” with patients and called for them to be eligible for paid time off to study, as in other health professions.
“Chronic pain is a bona fide medical problem that requires as much careful care as anything else,” Muñoz said.
“So I think we do need an attitudinal shift, we need time to spend with our patients and we need a greater understanding of, actually, very complex pathophysiology of pelvic pain.”
