A women’s health summit convened in Cardiff this week examined the systemic dismissal of women’s pain within the National Health Service and explored ways to improve women’s health services across Wales.
Donna Davies, a 56-year-old from Swansea, shared her experience at the gathering. An operation performed nearly 20 years ago left her in chronic pain, and she described feeling disbelieved by medical professionals until her husband intervened on her behalf. Davies received a vaginal mesh implant to address stress urinary incontinence that developed in her 30s. She reported the device caused daily pain, which she likened to being cut by glass with every movement. The mesh was eventually removed, and a sling fashioned from her own muscle tissue was created during a concurrent total hysterectomy. Despite these interventions, Davies continues to experience constant and neuropathic pain and faces the prospect of large bowel removal and a permanent stoma. She noted that Wales lacks specialist services for patients in her situation, while nine such centers operate in England.
Davies is among an estimated 100,000 women in the UK who underwent the mesh procedure for incontinence or prolapse treatment. The NHS has since paused the procedure.
Delyth Jewell, the women’s health minister in the Senedd, called for rules to be strengthened requiring health boards to include women in designing services for them. She emphasized the need for improved training, better prioritization in operating theaters, and recognition that women’s health extends beyond obstetrics and gynecology. Isabel Linton from the charity Fair Treatment for the Women of Wales highlighted challenges women face in obtaining diagnoses and accessing treatment, noting that conditions with higher female prevalence, including autoimmune disorders and cardiovascular disease, often receive insufficient attention.
The summit brought together clinicians, researchers, and women with lived experience to develop minimum standards. The Women’s Health Plan, launched in December 2024, will undergo further refinement based on women’s feedback later this year. Officials acknowledged that gynecological services currently face some of the longest waiting lists within the health system.
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