Women's Health Strategy: Thyroid Representation Needed

[Alex_bee]

Hi all, I've just completed my response to the government's call for women to respond to and give examples of their healthcare experiences as women.

I was ASTOUNDED that Thyroid care was not mentioned in one tick box or question surrounding women's health needs.

We urgently need to rally and respond to this and invite other people to do so as well and ensure the healthcare needs surrounding thyroid issues are heard and accounted for as the govt considers what the future of women's healthcare could look like in the future.

Please use your voice!!!

Address below

gov.uk/government/consultat...

[fuchsia-pink]

There was ONE tick-box for "hypothyroid" - but it's clearly not on their agenda!

[tattybogle in reply to fuchsia-pink]

lol that didn't stop me managing to have a few 50 word rants about thyroid treatment in most of the the boxes though

[fuchsia-pink in reply to tattybogle]

Likewise!

[tattybogle in reply to fuchsia-pink]

i might have been a bit repetitive .. but they did say they we're having trouble hearing us.

[Mistydeb01 in reply to tattybogle]

Me too, lol

[PixieElv in reply to tattybogle]

Me too 😂

[nellie237]

I filled it in. It will be interesting to hear what the outcome is. I expect women in general (whatever their health concerns) will sadly be disappointed.

[Mugs19 in reply to nellie237]

Already am(sadly disappointed). On BBC breakfast this am Naga Munchetti quoted Nadine Dorries as saying that women need to be more assertive with their GPS. To be fair to Ms Dorries I don’t know what else she might have said, but if the point had been made that GPs need to change their attitude to women, surely that would have been mentioned. I have resorted to taking my husband with me to medical appointments many times and it is amazing what a difference it canmake to how I get treated.

[nellie237 in reply to Mugs19]

I think I need to find a random man to take to my medical appointments. 🤣

[jsy_girl in reply to nellie237]

Just sit there and look pretty dear, but get angry at the right points.

Yes I’ll kick you.

[nellie237 in reply to jsy_girl]

I was thinking of dragging a man off the street to sit there and look pretty as an experiment 🤣

[jsy_girl in reply to Mugs19]

This is like changing the dialogue around rape so that it’s “men who commit violence” not “women who are Victims”

They should be telling doctors to listen to women, not putting the problem onto women. This makes me so angry.

[jsy_girl in reply to nellie237]

Probably print a few more leaflets for the waiting rooms we aren’t physically invited to be in anymore 🤣🤣🤣

[Pippi39]

I have filled it in. I have found my treatment to be extremely patronising, especially as I head to middle age. Issues I have asked to be investigated were dismissed by NHS GP as not being possible but when I paid privately we’re suddenly not a problem.

[PixieElv in reply to Pippi39]

Same here. If you can pay and have access to information (like Thyroid UK) you are ok. If not you are stuffed… 😞

[Loafinabout]

There is an option for Thyroid UK to respond on behalf of members - which would carry more weight I feel. (See…’We also welcome written submissions from individuals and organisations with expertise in women’s health. Written submission can include the contribution of data, research and other reports of relevance, and must be limited to 10 pages.)’

[Alex_bee in reply to Loafinabout]

I agree. I think an official response from TUK will carry more weight but it also doesn't hurt to echo their official response on a micro level individually. Does anyone know if TUK are responding?

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to Alex_bee]

lynmynott

[Doggy1903]

Thank you I have just completed the survey and raised thyroid issues for women.

[bookish]

Thanks, I have just completed too, but not impressed by the quality of the survey. Nothing specific about autoimmunity which is so much more prevalent in women. So I have blasted about thyroid and AI. We can but try, try, try again....

[WildDeer]

I filled it in too, and tried to rattle their bones without being rude. In the section where they ask for links to research they could follow up I put Dr Toft's "Counterblast" and " Managing the Total Thyroid Process".

[Gingernut44]

Am I missing something here, I’ve just logged on to the survey and found nothing on hypothyroidism or anywhere where I could write anything just about my name, where I live and choosing five top topics in a tick box setting and then, thanks for completing the survey. If that’s all it is, it’s a waste of time.

[tattybogle in reply to Gingernut44]

something wrong there .. after the '5 things' it should go on to loads of other sections....( on whichever of the 5 things you ticked .. if i remember correctly) Did you tick yes to any of the 5 things ? if you don't maybe it doesn't go on to the rest of it ?

There is nothing about hypothyroidism specifically (except possibly one box to tick somewhere) .. but for most of the sections there is a free text box where you can write 50 words.. so with a bit of creativity you can use them to say what you want, if hypothyroid was your issue in that encounter with the NHS.

[Gingernut44 in reply to tattybogle]

Hi Tat, thanks for your reply. I ticked five of the boxes expecting to go on further but I just got a “thank you for completing the survey”. This was on my iPad so perhaps I’ll try again on my desktop. I’ve got plenty to say like the rest of us 😂

[tattybogle in reply to Gingernut44]

see these RELATED POSTS.. might shed some light. i seem to remember others had issues with access, also Humanbean puts a link to the actual questions in a reply on one of these posts.

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu... women's health-strategy-call-for-evidence.-let-them-know-how-health-and-social-care-are-working-for-you.?

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu... Women's call-for-evidence-healthcare-survey

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu... government-consultation-on-womens-health-care

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to tattybogle]

I posted links to PDFs of the responses on the polls:

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

They are long and might take some time to appear. I have explicitly checked them on an iPhone and they work fine. But an older, less powerful phone or tablet, on a less than fast connection, could take some time to display.

[Gingernut44 in reply to tattybogle]

Thanks for the links, I’ll definitely be trying again and telling them exactly what I think about my appalling treatment

[Charlie-Farley]

Done! Several short word-limited rants achieved.