WOMEN WITH ENDOMETRIOSIS are being “failed” and let down by the state, according to Sinn Féin, who are seeking that the government commit to providing a centre of excellence in order to improve care.

Endometriosis is a chronic disease that sees tissue similar – but not the same as – the lining of the uterus grow in other places. It’s usually found in the pelvic region, but can be found anywhere in the body.

It is not a menstrual condition, but it’s often triggered in girls when they begin to get periods, and it can cause intense pain that is debilitating in some cases and heavy bleeding during periods.

The disease impacts an estimated one in ten women in Ireland, but the level of specialist care and assistance offered by the healthcare service here has often been criticised for being under resourced.

The Journal Investigates last year revealed that more than 100 Irish women had to seek care in Romania due to long waiting lists and a lack of affordable alternatives here. Sinn Féin is now calling for the health minister to “take this disease seriously”.

Sinn Féin’s health spokesperson David Cullinane and Senator Maria McCormack have drafted legislation which seeks to establish a centre of excellence in order to meet the level of capacity needed to deal with the number of cases here.

Government previously committed to providing two specialist hubs and additional staff to reduce barriers to care for effected women. Currently, Tallaght University Hospital is the regional advanced endometriosis service. 

Staffing issues 

According to McCormack, there is currently a significant staffing deficit at the centres.

“We have spoken to many women who have attended these new centres, but they are not getting the treatment that they need,” she told The Journal, adding that there are at least 15 vacancies at one centre.

“I [spoke to] one little girl who attended one of these centres, and she was told she didn’t have endometriosis. Then they went abroad for treatment, and she had quite extensive endometriosis lesions,” she added.

Cullinane said that if there was one centre of excellence for care, the proper and full resources would be made available for women attending the centres and seeking treatment. 

“We want, basically, every woman to have the same opportunity that they have in other European countries to gold-standard treatment,” he said. “Far, far too long, as we’ve set out in our motion [tonight], women have been failed.”

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The Waterford TD said that the provision of “second-best treatment” is not the fault of those currently working within the healthcare sector, but health minister Jennifer Carroll McNeill and HSE management.

He said that hospital staff want to improve healthcare for women, but claimed that pre-approved posts to help with this have been cut as a result of a cap on employment and cost levels in the healthcare system.

“Now they have to go back and start from scratch again,” he said. “We’ll be raising all of these issues and the need for that centre of excellence as a starting point with the Minster for Health.”

A national framework for the disease is currently being developed and nearing completion, Carroll McNeill said last month. It will identify how care for women will be delivered at primary care centres, local hospitals and specialist complexes.

It will be published once it is approved by doctors’ union the Irish Medical Organisation, she added.