A year after Victoria's inquiry into women's pain, an action plan is missing

A year after Victoria's inquiry into women's pain, an action plan is missing In short: Advocates are concerned the delay to Victoria's action plan for women's pain will continue "the pattern of dismissal" experienced by sufferers. The state inquiry into women's pain made 27 recommendations to the government, including an action plan to set clear goals and directions to address the issue. What's next? There are calls for key political parties to commit to implementing the action plan in the lead up to this month's state election. Fi Macrae says pain "impacts everything" in her life. The 32-year-old from Melbourne has suffered from endometriosis and chronic pelvic pain since her early 20s. "Pain and particularly chronic, persistent pain, it kind of seeps in and touches everything … it touches and bruises and wounds every part of you," she said. Ms Macrae has found some things that help manage the pain, like hot water bottles and a machine that stimulates nerves through electrical currents. "I'm medicated constantly. I have procedures every six months," she said. Often unable to work due to pain, Ms Macrae relies on the Disability Support Pension and acts as an advocate for women with pain. She co-chaired Victoria's inquiry into women's pain, which was the first of its kind in Australia, and included more than 13,000 responses from women and girls, clinicians, researchers and peak bodies. The inquiry found widespread experiences of dismissal, disrespect and inadequate treatment in the health system, coupled with limited local and international research into women's health. It made 27 recommendations covering seven key areas including awareness raising to reduce gender bias and stigma and more focus and funding for women's health research. One year on from the release of the inquiry's report, which was delayed at the time, advocates are concerned there is still no action plan to set clear goals and directions, despite being recommended by the inquiry. "One of the biggest takeaways from the inquiry for me was the sheer amount of dismissal experienced by women, girls, and gender-diverse people,"Ms Macrae said. "My concern is that if we're not continuing the rollout of these recommendations, that's just continuing the pattern of dismissal." The state government publicly promised to develop the action plan to "set clear goals and respond to the findings" by May this year. A government spokesperson told the ABC an action plan would be released "shortly," but did not specify an exact timeline. Chief executive of the not-for-profit advocacy group Women's Health Victoria Sally Hasler said the government had done a lot to support women's health, but the action plan was "critical". "The action plan is the accountability piece that will allow us and the 13,000 women who contributed to this inquiry to understand what action will be taken," she said. Calls for all parties to commit to inquiry work ahead of election Leah Filley, who has lived with chronic pelvic pain for 25 years, said she made a submission to the inquiry. "The unpredictability of pain is what is the most scary, particularly for myself as a single mum," she said. "I find that really daunting because when a bad pain flare comes on, I have to figure out how to manage it with a young child," she said. Ms Filley has started a petition urging all political parties to commit to implementing the inquiry's recommendations. Ms Hasler has a similar message to political parties ahead of polling day. "Now the responsibility is on government, and whoever that is at the end of November, to implement those recommendations and make sure we are using all of that evidence base to drive reform," she said. Minister for Health Ingrid Stitt said in a statement that women's pain had been ignored for too long and "the system failed them". "I absolutely accept the responsibility of making sure their stories are heard," she said. "We're acting on what women have told us with our $153 million women's health package," she said, outlining initiatives including 20 women's health clinics and more medical research. "We're continuing the work outlined in our response to the inquiry and always looking for ways to improve getting the message out that in Victoria, women's pain is taken seriously." Shadow Minister for Health Georgie Crozier said in a statement a Coalition government would have "no plans to reduce the services and supports that are working for women, women's health clinics, and the Women's Pain Standard". "If elected, we'll examine the review's findings with the full resources of government, a clear understanding of what the health system can deliver, and a determination to reverse the managed decline of health services under 12 years of Labor," she said. "We will build a better health system for every Victorian, and that means one where women are believed." Pain a 'complicated problem' President of Pelvic Pain Victoria Marilla Druitt, who worked on the inquiry, said pain was a "complex" medical issue and the inquiry had helped raise awareness of that among clinicians. "People know that pelvic pain is a thing. People know that pain for women is a thing," she said. "The quality of GP referrals I get these days, some of them are amazing. People are completely over this being a very complicated problem. "But I want things to be faster than they are. "I want the first time that a teenager has period pain, that her family understands about pain, that her school understands about pain, that her sport coach knows about pain so that we can get in early rather than people suffering over years and decades." Loading...