Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 11 January 2022
I thank Rachael Hamilton for bringing this important debate to the chamber and highlighting a condition that affects many women in Scotland, including me.
I have endured endometriosis all my adult life, resulting in chronic pain and, at times, misery. I sought help for many years, but the pain that I experienced was generally dismissed as normal. One day, in my late 30s, the pain reached a point such that I collapsed at work, was taken to A and E and finally received the support and diagnosis that I needed. I had endured 15 years of pain without an answer. I do not want any other woman to go through what I went through.
The striking thing about the disease is the sheer number of women who are suffering right now and do not know it. As Rachael Hamilton noted, one woman in 10 has endometriosis. That is a huge number. A survey for an all-party group inquiry into endometriosis in 2020 found that, in Scotland, prior to diagnosis, 61 per cent of people with endometriosis had visited their GP 10 times with symptoms, 43 per cent of people had had five hospital appointments and 55 per cent had been to A and E.
Stacey, a young woman from Fallin in Stirling, battled endometriosis from the age of 13. Her pain was so unbearable that she would collapse in class and be sent home. Stacey often felt that the teachers did not believe her. In a bid to ease her pain, she eventually had a hysterectomy aged just 25. Now, Stacey is 34 and still deals with regular and painful symptoms. She hoped that the hysterectomy would help, but it has not. She now has no cervix, fallopian tubes, ovaries or uterus, so she feels extremely fortunate that she managed to have her children before the treatment.
Stacey’s story and those of many other women underline the point that awareness of the condition is critically low. Delays in diagnosis mean years of physical and mental distress and, if the condition is left untreated, might result in infertility. We must ask ourselves the difficult question why something that is so common and so destructive is still so regularly dismissed or undiagnosed. Having as much pain as I have described is not normal. Attitudes need to change. It was very good to hear Sandesh Gulhane’s words. GPs are often a woman’s first port of call.
I very much welcome the commitment to reducing waiting times for diagnosis from more than eight years to under 12 months by the end of this session of the Parliament and the fact that the Government is making that issue a priority. Tragically, the fact remains that, even when someone is diagnosed, there is no cure. The treatments that I was offered were going on the pill, staying on the pill and having a baby. The first time that I was asked if I wanted to have a baby I was 18. I was a student, had no partner and thought, “Hmm, that is not something I will be considering at present.”
It begs the question why treatment for something that affects so many people is still so lacking. I look forward to hearing how the Scottish Government intends to meet its diagnosis targets, how endometriosis will be treated, and how health inequalities in general will be challenged.
As a nation, Scotland can be proud of its commitment to equality, so let us make endometriosis treatment another thing of which we can be proud.
17:55