‘It’s a political choice’: Emma Hayes hits out at state of UK gynaecology care
Emma Hayes has criticised the fact that women face a long wait for gynaecology appointments in the UK and the “political choice not to invest in women’s health”, before her return to the touchline for Chelsea’s sold-out game against Tottenham at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
On 14 October, Chelsea announced that Hayes would be stepping back from work because of an emergency hysterectomy due to endometriosis. She said on Friday it would probably “take through the rest of this year to return to normality” and criticised the level of government investment in women’s health.
“It’s up to our government and the decisions they make to invest in the healthcare industry,” the manager said in her first press conference since surgery. “[They need to make sure that] every medical professional is up to speed with women’s health and women’s gynaecology and if not, they need to have more gynaecologists available.
“I think it’s unacceptable to wait for prolonged periods to see a gynaecologist in this country on the NHS. And I have to say this: if these conditions were suffered by a man, there would be zero chance you would be waiting for a prolonged period.
Hayes’s journey in recent years prompted her to speak out and use her voice on these issues facing so many women.
“What I realised in all of this period is that my privilege took my pain away,” she said. “I have health insurance, but my pain and suffering was no different to anybody else’s and what I realised was, whether it be my 18-year-old niece who suffers from ‘period problems’ to younger women who struggle with endometriosis or polycystic ovaries, is that half a million women are sat on a waiting list for a prolonged period to see a gynaecologist in this country, which is simply horrendous. It’s a political choice not to invest in women’s health and being in the position I am, I have to highlight that.”
According to the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists more than 570, 000 women in the UK are on the waiting list for a gynaecology appointment, a more than 60% increase on pre-pandemic levels. In England the number of women waiting more than a year for care has risen from 66 before the pandemic to nearly 25,000 now.
“I was completely unaware that my own pain was as bad as it was,” Hayes said. “I was just getting on, being told similarly maybe it was period pains. What I realised is that we do have enough gynaecologists, trained at least, but there’s not enough jobs for them. Why? Because we choose not to invest in women’s health and I don’t think it’s acceptable for scores, generations, of people to go to their doctor and say, ‘I’m struggling with this’ and we don’t get a minimum of an internal ultrasound and MRI to determine the real route cause of our pain as opposed to being dismissed.”
Hayes had spent four years after the birth of her son Harry dismissing her pain and having it dismissed. “I was told it is stress, it’s this, it’s that, but I had end stage, deep infiltrating endometriosis – it was agony. Some days I was in agony going to work and I just couldn’t manage it.”
The response to her discussing her issues has prompted waves of messages from others experiencing similar problems.
“I’ve had so many people write to me that are either on a waiting list for a hysterectomy, or young people that keep getting dismissed and being told it’s their periods, or people’s partners struggling and unable to help. Davina McCall has highlighted the menopause but I think it goes much further than that. I’ve understood through my own learning and my own reading how uneducated we are as women [around women’s health], but that isn’t necessarily our fault.”