We are delighted to be sharing this statement at such an exciting time for women’s health in Wales as a 10-year Plan is launched by the Welsh Government.

Those who have followed FTWW over the ten years since our inception will know that we have long sought to raise awareness of the disparities in healthcare services and patient outcomes experienced by women and people registered female at birth. For ten years, we have heard countless stories of inequitable treatment from our members and wider network. We have provided a safe and validating space for fellow patients searching for answers as to why their symptoms aren’t being taken seriously, wanting more information about how to access the care they need, seeking an opportunity to vent, cry, and become more powerful advocates for themselves and others. Above all, we have learned that, like us, women just want to be HEARD.

We are proud that FTWW has been a key conduit to making that happen, perhaps never more importantly than in our calls on the Welsh Government to commit to a women’s health plan, one which promises to not just hear but embed women’s voices, experiences, and needs at every level of health and care service design, delivery, and evaluation.

It was in the run-up to the 2021 Senedd Elections that FTWW created a manifesto calling for the next Welsh Government to invest in a women’s health plan, as we became increasingly aware of similar strategies being developed in Scotland and England. As our name suggests, ‘fairness’ underpins everything we do, and we feared that without a similar undertaking, women in Wales would fall even further behind when it comes to diagnosis and treatment for a whole host of health conditions.

Endometriosis, one of FTWW’s original campaign areas, sees patients in Wales face a ten-year diagnostic delay, the worst out of all 4 UK nations, so it was vital that we persuaded the Welsh Government to step up and step in to address health inequities experienced by women compared to men, and between different groups of women themselves.

We also knew that the more people and organisations we could bring together to amplify these calls, the stronger our chances of success – and it was this that led us to join forces with the British Heart Foundation Cymru to establish the third sector Women’s Health Wales Coalition, an alliance FTWW continues to Chair.

In 2022, the Coalition published its own ‘Quality Statement for the Health of Women, Girls, and those Assigned Female at Birth’, a comprehensive report collating some of the most glaring examples of health inequity in Wales and the UK. Above all, we wished to demonstrate how access to specialist services, improved data, investment in training for health and care professionals, and support for sustainable coproduction – where public, patients, and professionals are equitable partners around the decision-making table – could make a real and tangible difference to female health experiences and outcomes.

The Senedd Health and Social Care Committee was convinced and made women’s health a priority for its 2021 – 2026 term, closely followed by the Welsh Government’s then Health Minister, now First Minister, Eluned Morgan, who committed NHS Wales to developing and implementing a 10-year clinical plan over which it would have ownership and responsibility for delivery.

Since then, a NHS Wales Executive has been established, followed by a Women’s Health Strategic Clinical Network, whose role it has been to create the Plan launched today, December 10^th 2024. The Women’s Health Wales Coalition has continued to meet and discuss the Plan’s content with the Network, making a number of recommendations which we are pleased to see accommodated – not least, a commitment to proactively seeking out, hearing, taking seriously, and working collaboratively with women themselves.

At a time where ‘getting it right first time’ underpins National Health Services in England and Wales, it has never been more important for public bodies to work with patients and their advocates, for whom the mantra, ‘Nothing About Us Without Us’ is fundamental. At FTWW, we look forward now to supporting the NHS in its implementation of the Plan, in the hope and anticipation that the next ten years see an evolution in women’s health in Wales, where our voices are not just heard but leading the change we want to see.