STATEMENTS ON SIGNIFICANT MATTERS
Ms MILLER-FROST (Boothby) (12:06): Women's Health Week is an opportunity for us to reflect on the experiences of women in health services and the long-overdue progress that's finally being made. Having worked in the health sector, including running women's health services, I think I speak with a little authority, I hope, on the topic of women's health. Clinical health services are often not designed with women in mind.
Pharmaceuticals are designed and trialled on men to avoid the pesky interference of oestrogen on drug actions, which is great, of course, except that those drugs are also used by women, as 51 per cent of the population. Consequently, we don't know if they will work on women or if women will have side effects. I attended recently a women's health breakfast and we heard a story told by a doctor.
When he was an intern his mother called him and said she was having shoulder pain and difficulty breathing. He took her to her GP, which was the first mistake. She should have gone to ED, but he was an intern; we'll forgive him.
And the GP diagnosed that it was the remnants of a frozen shoulder. A day later she was in hospital having had a heart attack. We know that the way cardiac symptoms are taught is based on the male experience of heart attack: crushing central chest pain radiating to the left arm, shoulder or jaw, and shortness of breath.
Women don't experience it that way, so women having heart attacks often have delayed treatment, which, of course, can be fatal. A University of Sydney study found that women are half as likely to receive the appropriate diagnostic tests and treatment. It's little wonder, then, that women have a much poorer survival rate than men.
Six months after a heart attack, women are twice as likely to die compared to men. Another woman at that breakfast told us that she had gone to an emergency department with sudden onset of a severe headache, and she was diagnosed with migraine despite having had no prior history of migraine. She was sent home with painkillers.
It took multiple medical consults in 11 days and an escalation of symptoms for her to be finally diagnosed as having a stroke. Again, delayed diagnosis and, therefore, delayed treatment had consequences for the severity of her stroke, her subsequent disability and the rehab process. Men and women do experience illness differently, and the medical services need to cater for both.
At the breakfast we were told that men tend to have colon cancer on the left side of the body and women on the right. Yet the scope that is used to look for colon cancer only goes to the left side. Again, this has consequences for diagnosis, treatment and outcomes.
The experience of women in the health system is often one of not being believed. Their pain isn't believed or is minimised. Their symptoms aren't believed, or are normalised.
The Greek word 'hystera' means uterus, and is the same basis as the word 'hysteria'. We can see how, even in language, women's health is trivialised and conceptualised as being 'all in her head'. I worked in the health sector for many years, and amongst other services ran women's health, including BreastScreen SA.
I recall taking a call from a woman whose 14-year-old daughter was having her first period and was in severe abdominal pain. I sent a doctor out to her home to have a look, and he told her that it was period pain and this was what it was like. She was crying, guarding her stomach, very distressed, and she was told that this was the future she was looking at for most of her adult life.
When she was still getting worse a few hours later, they called back and I sent a different doctor. She was diagnosed with acute appendicitis and sent to hospital for an emergency appendectomy. Her pain had been normalised and minimised, and the rationale of period pain meant she had a substandard medical experience that could have been life-threatening.
Statistically, women are more likely to have delayed diagnosis and treatment for appendicitis, and it surely isn't coincidental, therefore, that they also have a higher rate of complication rates following appendectomy. Little wonder, then, that it takes women with endometriosis typically up to seven different doctors and between seven and 10 years to get a diagnosis, let alone an effective treatment plan.
This government takes women's health seriously. Our landmark $800 million women's health package is levelling the playing field, and we are doing this through all of the levers available to the federal government in the health sphere—MBS, PBS, specific programs, services and funding. Since March 2025, more than one million women have filled more than four million cheaper prescriptions for oral contraceptives, menopausal hormone therapies and endometriosis treatments listed on the PBS, resulting in more than $150 million of savings to them.
The new PBS listings, such as contraceptives and menopause medications, are giving women more affordable options at different stages of their lives, and our cheaper medicines are delivering affordability. The first PBS listing for new contraceptive pills in more than 30 years, and two more forms of contraceptives, have helped more than 400,000 women save more than $55 million on 1.27 million scripts, which previously could have cost up to $380 a year.
The first PBS listing of new menopausal hormone therapies in more than 20 years has helped 520,000 women save $110 million on three million scripts, which previously could have cost them up to $670 a year. I know that women in Boothby and across Adelaide have been greatly relieved by the establishment of an endometriosis and pelvic pain clinic in my electorate of Boothby.
Since it started a couple of years ago, Thrive Endo Clinic has been providing multidisciplinary clinical services to women who in many instances have been suffering for years. They provide education to patients and practitioners alike. They've also developed individualised endometriosis plans, similar to an asthma plan, so that women can better understand their own symptoms, recognise early signs of an onset, and understand the sorts of measures that work for them to eliminate or minimise the impact.
This is one of 33 clinics across Australia that is revolutionising endometriosis care and transforming the experience of women who have this terribly painful and life-changing condition. Add to this the more than 11,000 women who've accessed endometriosis medications at PBS prices, saving $11.7 million on 600,000 scripts, which previously could have cost up to $2,700 a year.
These medicines are now available for no more than $25 a script, or $7.70 for concession card holders. Recently, the endometriosis clinics have also started supporting perimenopause and menopause care. More than 137,000 women have undergone a menopause health assessment since being covered by Medicare.
Australian women are also benefiting from new Medicare items for longer consultation times and higher rebates for specialised gynaecological care. Larger Medicare payments and more bulk-billing for IUDs and contraceptive implants continue to save women up to $400 in out-of-pocket costs a year, improving access. This includes three new items for nurse practitioners to deliver these services and training for health practitioners on long-lasting contraceptives, including insertion and removal.
This gives women genuine choice over reproductive health care access and affordability. One experience common to all women, providing they live long enough, is the experience of perimenopause and menopause. Approximately 51 per cent of the population will experience menopause, yet it is ignored, barely taught at medical school and poorly dealt with in the workplace.
Menopause is the cessation of menstrual periods and is usually only obvious in retrospect when you realise you haven't had a period for 12 months or more without a medical reason. Perimenopause is the time leading up to your final period and just after. It can start in your 40s or earlier or later.
It can last between two and 10 years and has a number of symptoms, depending on the woman. There are the classic hot flushes—or, as we like to call them, power surges—which can also cause night sweats, brain fog, forgetfulness, sleep problems, anxiety or depression, dry or itchy skin, a reduction in sexual desire, joint and muscle pain, and weight gain around the stomach.
Our perimenopause and menopause campaign targets women aged 35 to 55 years and aims to destigmatise conversations, help them recognise the symptoms earlier and help them find accurate information, evidence based treatment and support if they need it. This government is serious about women's health, and we put the money, the services, the MBS and PBS items behind it, because women count.