'They've felt fobbed-off' - the North East health hub listening to women's needs
The NHS is promising to listen to the views of women in efforts to improve female healthcare across the North East.
Although women tend to live longer than men, they often do so in poorer health.
The region's NHS also says that many women believe there are times when they have not been adequately listened to by health professionals.
In an effort to address these issues, the NHS is launching what it is calling The Big Conversation, to hear the experiences of female patients and learn how services could be improved.
Changes have already begun.
In recent months, a dedicated women's health hub has opened in the Pallion area of Sunderland, to offer services such as contraception and menopause support.
Twice-weekly menopause clinics offer longer than average appointments to enable women to discuss concerns more fully.
Advanced nurse practitioner Kerry Barnett, who specialises in menopause, told ITV Tyne Tees that women often feel frustrated at what they see as a lack of understanding elsewhere.
Ms Barnett said: "A lot of times the ladies have been to the GP and haven't really got where they needed to be and they've felt 'fobbed off' is a phrase we hear quite a lot."
She explained how women are often reduced to tears in front of her as they re-live their experiences.She continued: "When they've got the chance to open the flood gates and say everything that's been on their mind and say everything that's happened before, where they didn't feel they'd got what they needed, and it's just the relief."
Ms Barnett added: "When they come in a second time it's like a new woman comes through the door."
Sunderland resident Jennifer Hardy used the hub to access contraception and said the venue had several benefits.
Ms Hardy said:" It's obviously always a woman that sees you so it just makes you feel more at ease when you see someone you can talk to about the problems you might be having more in-depth, more relatable because they're a woman themselves rather than a male doctor."
She added: "It's just really beneficial to have it on the doorstep."
A second North East women's health hub is due to open in Gateshead in the coming months with the prospect of more to follow.
They are deliberately being located in less affluent areas of the region where, due to pressures such as work and family commitments, women often find it more difficult to access healthcare and services.
The hubs are one part of a wider strategy to strengthen healthcare for women and girls across the region.
There is a focus on the following key areas:
Menstrual health and gynaecological conditions
Fertility, pregnancy, pregnancy loss and post-natal support
Menopause
Cancers
Health impacts of violence on women and girls
Healthy ageing and long-term conditions
As a major conference was held in Gateshead to discuss the way forward, the chief executive of the NHS North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB), Samantha Allen, told ITV Tyne Tees how a commitment to women's health benefits the whole of society.
She explained: "Women make up nearly eighty per cent of the healthcare workforce, over eighty per cent of the social care workforce and nearly sixty per cent of all unpaid care is delivered by women so if we get things right for women, not only will we improve things for them, we've also got that ability to really support the economy."
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