Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 13 July 2021
145. Deputy Kathleen Funchion asked the Minister for Health his plans to address the serious deficiencies in the provision of women’s health across a range of services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28446/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraGovernment Commitment
Progressing women’s health is a priority for me and for this government.
We made a strong commitment to Promoting Women’s Health in the Programme for Government and are fully committed to the development and improvement of Women’s Health services and to working with women and girls to improve their health across the whole life cycle.
Women’s Health
We know that gender is a key determinant of your health and wellbeing. Today in Ireland, 86% - almost 9 in 10 women - feel that their own health is good or very good, so our starting point is incredibly strong.
But we also know that women have specific physical, mental and social health needs which services can struggle to meet. We know that women can have poorer health outcomes relating to certain conditions including some chronic diseases, cancers, and mental health conditions.
We know that women in minority or disadvantaged groups can face particular health inequalities.
Women’s health outcomes and experiences are also affected by their roles in the family and society and their wider circumstances – for example more than 60% of unpaid carers are women which means they often access services on behalf of others.
We know that women often don’t feel listened to within our health service and this has to change.
Recent Progress
There has been recent progress in the area of women’s health including:
- the implementation of the National Maternity Strategy,
- implementation of the Sexual Health Strategy,
- establishment of a National Mesh Specialist Centre,
- improvements in screening services,
- improvements to sexual assault services, introduction of termination of pregnancy services,
- the rollout of the Maternal & Newborn-Clinical Management System, and
- the development of new models of care for ambulatory gynaecology and infertility.
Women’s Health Taskforce
The Women’s Health Taskforce was established in September 2019 to improve both health outcomes and experiences of healthcare for women and girls.
The members of the Taskforce meet regularly, with its twelfth meeting held earlier this month. Regular updates are provided through a dedicated webpage on the Department of Health’s website at gov.ie.
The Women’s Health Taskforce continues to work with the National Women’s Council of Ireland and the European Institute of Women’s Health to prioritise different issues each year with the aim of improving women’s health outcomes and experiences of healthcare.
Critical to this work is the process of listening to women - the Taskforce has so far listened to, engaged with and worked with more than 1,000 women and hundreds of organisations representing women and girls across the country.
Based on this information, the Taskforce has developed proposals to improve supports for gynaecological health, mental health, physical activity, and menopause all of which are rolling out this year and next year.
Through action like this forum, we can better address women’s whole health and help ensure that action on women’s health looks beyond reproductive health to make a real difference to women’s lives.
Work is ongoing to identify priorities for the year ahead, aligned to Sláintecare, and I expect to bring these to Government for approval this Autumn.
Budget 2021
I’m pleased to say that Budget 2021 provides a very significant investment to deliver on this commitment. This includes:
- funding of €12m to ensure a renewed impetus to the implementation of the National Maternity Strategy and the new model of maternity care, and to improve gynaecology services.
- funding of €10m to screening services including Breast Check and Cervical Check,
- and building on the work of the Women’s Health Taskforce, a €5m Women’s Health Fund to improve women’s health outcomes and experiences of healthcare.
Through the Women’s Health Fund, the significant funding provided for maternity, gynaecology and fertility services, as well as the €10m investment in screening services including BreastCheck and CervicalCheck, Budget 2021 has reiterated this Government’s commitment to the further development and improvement of Women’s Health services and to working with women and girls to improve their health across the whole life cycle.
Women’s Health Fund
Budget 2021 has provided a dedicated €5million Women’s Health Fund to implement a programme of actions arising from the work of the Taskforce.
The first two proposals funded under the Women’s Health Fund are:
- Two community-based Ambulatory Gynaecology Services in Tallaght University Hospital and University Maternity Hospital Limerick.
- Expansion of the endometriosis service at Tallaght University Hospital (TUH) to deliver a specialist endometriosis centre for the management and treatment of all forms of endometriosis.
In 2021, the Fund will deliver:
- a national awareness to provide a trusted source of information and help normalise discussions about women’s health,
- increased supports in the areas of gynaecology, menopause, mental health and physical activity, and
- further actions under priority areas to be decided in 2021.
Engagement is ongoing with Dept. of Health and HSE stakeholders to finalise further activities to be implemented under the Women’s Health Fund in 2021.
Impact of COVID19 on women and girls
The Government recognises the significant physical, mental and social health challenges that women and girls in particular have faced due to the COVID19 pandemic and response.
These include particular impacts relating to:
- the high prevalence of women as frontline workers in health and retail sectors and within domestic and caring job roles;
- impacts on health services that are important to women’s health specifically, such as restrictions on birth partners in labour; and
- wider issues such as the rise in domestic violence.
However, there have also been some positive service developments such as a new model of remote consultation for Termination of Pregnancy Services which will be continued.
Budget 2021 is supplemented by broader investment which will directly address some of the impacts of COVID19, including:
- €38m for new mental health services and
- €1.7 billion to protect health care workers, vulnerable groups and public from the impacts of COVID-19, and
- the recent launch of the “Keep Well” campaign which that which aims to support people and communities to mind their physical and mental health over the coming months including a new, free, online mental health and wellbeing programme called Minding Your Wellbeing.
