Women lobby for access to gynaecological care

Women with serious gynaecological problems including incessant bleeding, fibroids and painful sexual intercourse are increasingly turning to their GPs and TDs to lobby for them in a desperate bid to access treatment at Cork University Maternity Hospital (CUMH).

The Irish Examiner has seen a range of anonymised letters where doctors and politicians are pleading on behalf of women for intervention. They include a case where a woman has waited since 2014 for a robotic hysterectomy; a case where a woman with fibroids and vaginal bleeding had been bleeding for more than two weeks, and a case where a woman was experiencing worsening symptoms of dyspareunia (painful intercourse).

In response to a TD who wrote seeking help for one of his constituents, management at CUMH advised that because she had been triaged as “routine” she would be waiting “at least” 129 weeks for treatment.