Source · Select Committees · Women and Equalities Committee
Recommendation 18
18
Deferred
Paragraph: 81
Collect NHS data on adherence to guidelines for painful gynaecological procedures and patient experience.
Recommendation
Concerns about painful procedures have been raised for years with little sign of progress. We recommend the NHS collects data on whether guidelines for hysteroscopy, IUD fittings and other potentially painful gynaecological procedures are being adhered to. That data must include surveys of patient experience. Without the pressure of having this information captured we are sceptical there will be the necessary drive to improve the level of care.
Government response summary AI-generated
The government's response did not address the recommendation about collecting data on adherence to guidelines for painful gynaecological procedures. Instead, it discussed the affordability of period products and prescription charges.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Paragraph Reference:
81
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government · verbatim extract
Deferred
We agree with the importance of understanding and improving women’s experiences of procedures and ensuring women’s pain is not dismissed. We are working with NHS England and the Women’s Health Ambassador on how we take forward the Women’s Health Strategy for England (linked in ‘Introduction’ above) by aligning it to the government’s missions and forthcoming 10 Year Health Plan. As part of this, we will consider the committee’s recommendations on key performance indicators and metrics. The NHS does not currently collect data centrally on the number of women who experience pain, or receive pain relief, during a hysteroscopy or other procedures. However, patient experiences more broadly are routinely collected for people attending healthcare services through the Friends and Family Test . Pain relief will be recorded for individuals in their medical records by the practitioner performing the procedure and therefore proactive local audits can be conducted within healthcare settings to review local practices. The government’s Reproductive Health Survey for England 2023 (linked in the government response to ‘Recommendation 6’ in ‘Accessing a diagnosis’ above) received more than 52,000 responses. NHS England, together with DHSC , will review the potential of conducting this survey on a regular basis to monitor self-reported experience of healthcare at population level. NHS England will review national data collection processes and protocols, and consideration will be given to scoping a patient experience measure for women’s health services, including procedural pain, as part of work to develop next steps for the Women’s Health Strategy for England.
Read the full response on Parliament ↗