Concern women in North Yorkshire putting off going to the GP
A new survey's found many women feel their health issues aren't taken seriously
New research has found that the gender health gap has remained stagnant, suggesting women’s health concerns are still not treated with the same urgency as men’s.
Research by Benenden Health found that nearly two thirds (60%) of women in the UK believe their health issues are not taken seriously, while more than a third (35%) feel they have experienced poorer health outcomes because of their gender.
Of the women who stated they have experienced a poorer health outcome in their life, more than half said they’ve had a negative experience with a healthcare professional (57%) and a third said they have experienced a late diagnosis (36%). A further third have received a diagnosis that turned out to be incorrect (33%), whilst a quarter revealed that they have also been put on the wrong medication at some point in their lifetime.
According to the research more than a quarter (27%) of women feel that the UK’s healthcare system specifically favours men over women, leaving many women reluctant to seek medical help at all and impacting on their long-term wellbeing. In fact, more than a third of respondents (35%) said they avoid going to the doctors, for reasons including anxiety and embarrassment.
"If you need that second opinion ask for that second opinion"
Cheryl Lythgoe who is a clinician in York: "Going back to my clinical training, everything is very much male orientated. Actually, as women we have very very different ways of articulating our health concerns but also sometimes in displaying our health concerns."
"ADHD, autism, heart attacks and dementia all of those things, we have different ways of presenting that and definitely the research say 35% of women weren't even aware that we have different ways of presenting those issues."
"Historically medicine is a default male model, a lot of the research a lot of the procedures are trialled on men because they always thought that women were a little bit too hormonal to give a good research result."
"What this research tells us is be loud, be proud, if you need that second opinion, ask for second opinion. You know your body, go with your gut instinct."