'Low levels of satisfaction' with healthcare in Canberra for endometriosis, menopause, identified in Women's Health Matters survey

ABC NEWS (Australia)

A survey of women in Canberra has revealed large gaps in healthcare access and affordability as well as the staggering statistic that almost half of respondents felt doctors didn't take them seriously. It's a wake-up call for the ACT’s health sector and one the independent think tank behind the survey plans to use to advocate for significant improvements to the system.

Transcript

00:00Five years ago, Megan Phipps had abdominal pain so severe, she struggled to make her

00:10own lunch.

00:11It was that sort of sharp, localised, but then it became this persistent dull ache

00:16that was just present at all times.

00:18Her GP tested for appendicitis.

00:21The results were clear.

00:23He said, take a deep breath, you're a young woman, I think you should do some stress management

00:27techniques, try yoga, try journaling.

00:29Megan left the appointment in shock.

00:32It was really jarring to have my experience so easily dismissed.

00:37A new doctor, two gynaecologists and nine months later, Megan was diagnosed with endometriosis.

00:45Laparoscopic surgery changed her life.

00:48I woke up and for the first time in nine, ten months by that stage, I wasn't in pain.

00:55Megan's experience is not unique.

00:57A survey of women in Canberra found overall low levels of satisfaction with endometriosis

01:04healthcare.

01:05It also found perimenopause and menopause care hugely lacking.

01:09A quarter of women reported getting little or none of what they needed when seeking support,

01:15information or treatment.

01:17Felicity Brazel knows the feeling all too well.

01:22It was 2020 when she found herself suffering through hot flushes, brain fog and anxiety.

01:28I'd be at work and I would just be in tears and I'd be going, this isn't me.

01:34The wait for an appointment with her usual GP was longer than Felicity was willing to wait.

01:41So she saw a different doctor at the same practice.

01:44It was someone who was a younger woman, hadn't gone through it and was really having to go

01:49and didn't know much about it and having to look up on the website.

01:54Felicity walked away with a prescription for antidepressants and the realisation that seeing

01:59a doctor who specialised in women's health was vital.

02:03You can't talk about menopause in a 15-minute chat.

02:07The survey also found 45% of women felt doctors were taking them only somewhat seriously

02:14or not at all seriously.

02:16It's a statistic that's hard for Dr Laura Chapman to hear but not to understand.

02:22So often women will come to see us here saying that they have felt dismissed or not taken seriously.

02:29And the most commonly mismanaged conditions, endometriosis and menopause.

02:35A big part of the problem, according to Dr Chapman, is the prevalence of 10-minute medicine.

02:41There is only a certain amount of time that you can give to that woman

02:45if you're booking appointments every 10 minutes.

02:48For Lauren Anthes, the head of the think tank behind the survey,

02:52the findings offer a powerful tool to advocate for change.

02:56So whether that's about affordability or whether that's in fact ensuring that people are taken seriously

03:01when they present with certain issues.

03:03But it also gives us the ability, hopefully, to work with the community.

03:07So to work with them around where to go for their help.

03:10What's now clear is there's plenty of room for improvement.

03:14Where are we, Marla bona fides?

03:15Thermomessa, the family's heart must be hardships during the town of the streets.

03:20We'll have to do some more questions.

03:21Where are we?

03:22What are we, Marla?

03:23What if our children and classmates are still waiting for them?

03:26What are we, Marla?

03:27What are we, Marla?

03:28We're, Marla.

03:29We'll be.

03:30The family and family are here.

03:31That's great.

03:32What do you guys understand?

03:33We've been hearing about the very first.

03:35So all of the time, all of the time is looking at the storybook.

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