- Conference
- 2023 National Retired Members Conference
- Date
- 7 June 2023
- Decision
- Carried
This conference notes the campaign by the Campaign Against Painful Hysteroscopy (CAPH) to end the barbaric practice Hysteroscopies being carried out in the NHS with inadequate or no offer of pain relief.
As the CAPH point out, unlike NHS Colonoscopy or Gastroscopy procedures, women undergoing Hysteroscopy are NOT offered a safely monitored conscious sedation. The NHS procedure is performed in Outpatients whilst the patient is awake – women with a closed or narrowed cervix (i.e post-menopausal women and those having gone through a non-vaginal childbirth) are not informed that the procedure can be excruciatingly painful: patients are instructed to take over-the-counter medicines before the procedure, no stronger medication is recommended and only seldom given. There is no separate appointment for a pre-operative assessment.
Conference notes that the British Association of Anaesthetists have recorded that between 2019 – 2020, 71,000 Hysteroscopies were carried out on the NHS, disproportionally affecting older women who are more prone to needing internal examination due to age.
Conference is concerned that NHS Hospital Trusts are currently financially incentivised through the Best Practice Tariff to perform at least 70% of Hysteroscopies in Outpatients rather than under general anaesthetic. This means that patients are not always given a CHOICE between an outpatient hysteroscopy and a general anaesthetic.
Conference therefore calls on the National Retired Members Committee to liaise with the National Executive Council, Labour Link, the National Pensioners Convention, Scottish Pensioners Forum, Age UK and other relevant and appropriate organisations to mount a campaign, and work with the Women’s Self-Organised Group and UNISON branches to promote that campaign, to urge that:
1) All NHS Hysteroscopists have advanced training in pain medicine.
2) All Hysteroscopy patients receive full written information before the procedure, listing the risks and benefits of a local anaesthetic, so that they can make a personal choice.
3) All Hysteroscopy services are adequately funded so that BEFORE their procedures patients may choose no anaesthesia/ local anaesthesia/ safely monitored conscious sedation/ epidural/ general anaesthetic.
4) The ‘Best Practice Tariff financial incentive’, which rewards NHS Trusts who perform a high percentage of hysteroscopies in outpatients without a trained anaesthetist is abolished.