- Conference
- 2022 National Disabled Members' Conference
- Date
- 8 July 2022
- Decision
- Carried as Amended
Conference notes the December 2021 government policy paper ‘Our Vision for the Women’s Health Strategy for England’, published after 100,000 women shared their personal experiences around the way the health and care system listens to women. The document looked at the approach to women’s health by putting women’s voices at the heart of this work.
The policy paper was based on information and the voices of women, in addition to building on two previous reports. A 2020 report, the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review, played a vital part in the recommendations in the report. We have all heard about the failure of testing of the virginal mesh which has led to women being left with impairments for the remainder of their lives. A further 2020 independent report into the issues raised by Ian Paterson, a former surgeon, was also crucial. This report found ‘it is often women whom the healthcare system fails to keep safe, and whom systems fail to listen to’.
Conference believes that there is not a woman who won’t recognise the need for a Women’s Health Strategy, after decades of gender health inequalities.
The ‘Vision’ document contains evidence around health in the workplace, with the report highlighting that health conditions and impairments impact on women’s at work, leading to increased stress levels and mental health impacts. It calls on employers to look to flexible working arrangements. This should not be confused with any reasonable adjustments in place for disabled women.
Conference acknowledges the long struggle disabled women have within employment and the impact of the disenabling elements that come with periods, menopause, endometrioses to name a few conditions that for women can be extremely painful and cause extra time away from work. This is in addition to dealing with the impact on other impairments and ever increasing comments like ‘It’s Just A women’s Thing’.
While on average women in the UK live longer than men, women spend a greater proportion of their lives in ill health and disability. This is on top of growing geographical differences and disparities between different groups of women in how they access services.
Doctors’ routine dismissal of women’s debilitating health problems as “benign” has contributed to gynaecology waiting lists soaring by 60% to more than half a million patients. Dr Edward Morris of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists said institutionalised gender bias meant the term “benign” was used more widely in gynaecology. resulting in conditions being normalised and deprioritised within the NHS.
Disabled women are also more likely to have unmet health care needs than non-disabled women or men.
Conference welcomes the work towards producing a women’s health strategy in light of the need to improve the health of all women and girls and to build an approach to women’s health that is inclusive of LGBT+ and Black communities. Changing what is an institutionalised culture will not be easy but there are no ‘quick fixes’ we can take that would risk the health of women.
For our part as a union we need to ensure that we negotiate robust guidance and inclusive sickness policies. Conference notes UNISON has produced a guide to negotiating disability leave which includes a model policy and w also have guides to negotiating good sickness absence policies and procedures.
Ensuring disable women members in workplaces are supported is even more important in the light of NHS waiting lists that have increased dramatically due to Covid and mean disabled women are not getting the help they need and are having to take time off sick as a result.
Conference calls on National Disable Members Committee to:
• Work with the health service group to seek to ensure disabled women’s voices are included in all phases of the development and implementation of the Women’s Health Strategy
• Work through the Labour Link to seek to ensure the Labour Party holds the government to account on addressing women’s health inequalities
• Raise awareness of these issues across the union and consider backing appropriate campaigns for action
• Continue to produce and circulate guidance on negotiating sickness absence policies and disability leave