By the end of this decade Queensland can make the misdiagnosis and lack of proper treatment of endometriosis and pelvic pain for women and girls a thing of the past. You may not know much about it – because we don’t talk about it anywhere near enough. Endometriosis is an inflammatory disease where endometrial-like tissue is present outside the uterus and is associated with pelvic pain, infertility, and poor mental health.
For sufferers, it can present a significant physical and mental burden. Queensland has one of the highest rates of endometriosis, with around one in six
women diagnosed with endometriosis by the time they are in their early 40s, this is compared to just over one in ten women Australia wide.
It’s also taking, on average, seven years for women to receive a pelvic pain diagnosis. These wait times are leaving some women with significant pain management issues, due to pain pathways almost being hard wired responses, even after endometriosis has been acknowledge and removed.
When we received over 12,000 responses from a survey of Queensland women last year, they told us they often don’t feel listened to, and that their concerns are dismissed by healthcare professionals, resulting in misdiagnosis.
Some of the medical advice they’d received included to, ‘maybe try swimming off the pain’, or ‘don’t worry the pain is in your head, there’s nothing wrong with you’, and my personal favourite ‘peppermint tea is really the only viable option at this point’.
They also said they are often unsure who to speak to, what organisations to reach out to, and what healthcare options are available for them.
To help tackle these issues our government is investing an extra $18.2 million over five years for endometriosis and pelvic pain initiatives.
As part of Queensland’s first-ever Women and Girls’ Health Strategy, we are putting more money into pelvic pain and endometriosis treatment, and more money into specialist clinical care so women can receive timely diagnosis and treatment.
The Federal Government are stepping up nationwide with a $58 million package to improve health outcomes for women, which will also provide support in this area. It is the healthy, caring, and right thing to do. And with pelvic pain costing Australia an estimated $10 billion a year, it’s a smart investment in productivity and our economy.
The time for us to act is now.
We want women and girls who develop pelvic pain or painful periods to feel comfortable discussing these symptoms with their doctor, and to know that they are being listened to, supported, and understood.
Our investment is also supporting non-government organisations to establish peer support group programs to provide invaluable connection and support for women who have experienced the same health issues.
We need our health workforce to listen to women so are also upskilling our workforce to better identity and respond to pelvic pain.
As Queensland’s Minister for Women and the Minister for Health, I am committed to doing everything I can to create the meaningful change to our health care system that’s needed, to improve the health of all Queensland women and girls.