Calls for more support for endometriosis patients

A campaign group has called for more support and better care for endometriosis patients in Jersey.

Endometriosis Jersey hosted a special screening of the documentary 'Below the Belt' at Jersey Arts Centre on Tuesday.

Its organiser Kate Fry has the disease which affects one in ten women and it can cause severe pain and affect pregnancy chances.

After the screening, a panel of experts spoke about issues affecting patients and what can be done to improve support for them.

Ms Fry started to be affected by endometriosis when she was 14-years-old and has undergone three surgeries and induced menopause to try to ease her pain.

She said: "I want to inform, I want to educate" and she hopes the event "brings change about".

Ms Fry added: "I want to encourage men to join the discussion as my husband sometimes struggles when I'm so poorly and they are part of the support network so I want them involved."

She now wants to carry out a survey to see how many people have the illness in the island and how it has affected them.

The Health Minister, Deputy Tom Binet attended the screening and heard discussions from the panel.

He said the campaign "should engage more men" because it was an all-female panel and "it would've been very helpful to have some male GPs to draw men into the conversation".

Another issue raised by the panel was how Deputy Binet had scrapped the Women's Health Strategy because of funding concerns.

Deputy Binet added: "It's a shame the talk wasn't more interactive because there's an awful lot going on in lots of areas that relate to this that could've been made clear."

He promised to work more closely and meet Ms Fry to discuss way to improve the health service for endometriosis patients.

Trudi Roscouet is a women's health advocate and founder of Eve Studios, which a wellbeing hub in Jersey designed to support women of all ages.

She was on the panel and said "we need to be looking at the ages of 12 to 13 when we should be talking to girls about periods" and "education in schools in a priority" but has been told there is not enough funding for these discussions.

"The other problem is we need to start looking at GPs who need to actively listen to what women are saying and if they have the right information, then they should be more educated to speak to their doctors," Ms Roscouet added.

The Primary Care Body is the group that represents GPs in the island.

Dr Maitiu O Tuathail from the group said endometriosis "can be difficult to diagnose as it can present with a wide range of symptoms".

Dr O Tuathail added: "An MRI scan of the pelvis is a very useful test which can assist in the diagnosis of endometriosis but unfortunately GPs in Jersey cannot readily access MRI scans and this significantly hampers the diagnosis and management of many conditions."

GPs in the island also undergo regular education on diseases like endometriosis and recently the Primary Care Body held a specialist educational meeting on endometriosis.

Jersey Education Department said it "recommends that schools teach menstrual wellbeing at KS3 and KS4" and "topics that aren't covered in the Jersey Curriculum are then at the discretion of the school to allocate their teaching and learning budget to".

The curriculum includes health and wellbeing.