Thread by @philippa_uk

Hysteroscopy: excellent treatment when done with respect & compassion for patient, without financial and convenience issues & outdated attitudes to women getting in the way. A thread:

@HysteroscopyA
@Trust_Failed
@ProfEmmaCrosbie
@RCoANews
@NHSuk
@RoseCoatesBN5
@rcgp
@RCObsGyn

#Anaesthetics have been available since the century before last.

Men are given local or general anaesthetic for #prostatecancer biopsies as a matter of course.

So why do women continue to be subjected to #gynaecological torture? Misogyny in action?

Hysteroscopy is SURGERY - anaesthesia, relaxation and pain management should be the norm, not the exception.

And as it's surgery, involving cutting and blood, doing it in an office with patient & #gynaecologist in their outdoor clothes is a hygiene disaster waiting to happen.

The news that hysteroscopy including #polypectomy - without anaesthetic - is about to happen should not come as a 'surprise' when at an outpatient gynae appointment, as it did for me.

Gynaecologists should not be using simplistic and misleading language - 'have a little look … take a little sample … just a scratch … like a period pain …' to persuade and gaslight women into the stirrups, as happened to me. This is not informed consent.

Luckily the gynaecology nurse stopped him before he got very far and I Iater had my op under general anaesthetic in proper surgical conditions.

The callous practice of hysteroscopy without anaesthetic as standard within the #gynaecology profession and the NHS must end.

If the NHS will not scrap the practice of in-office outpatient hysteroscopy, this should be the standard procedure in advance:

Work with the awareness that 1 / 4 women are likely to find it intolerable, especially if post menopausal and/or never given birth.

Understand that women who have suffered sexual assault may well be re-traumatized.

Let the patient know in advance that a hysteroscopy is intended so she can decide and prepare.

Send patient full written details, including correct terminology ('hysteroscopy,' not 'take a little look'), in advance.

Send clear and comprehensive information on pain management, acknowledging the need, and ensuring it's properly available and administered on the day.

Take full medical history (inc traumatic birth).

Take full personal history (inc abuse / assault survivor).

#Hysteroscopist explains the procedure face to face.

Obtain fully informed consent.

Stop if required by the patient.

Result:

An end to paternalistic, patronising, infantilising attitudes, language & behaviour towards women - who are so often treated as inconvenient and unreasonable when unable to bear the pain of the procedure.

An end to the old lie that 'women just have to live with pain'.

Women newly informed, confident and proactive about managing our own health.

#painfreegynae
#NoMoreOPHAgony

So many dreadful accounts by women of their experiences.

The language of assault.
careopinion.org.uk/842119

@DanielSokol9 I hope you'll read this thread please

@threadreaderapp Please unroll thankyou

@DrJenGunter Please could I invite you to read my thread on #hysteroscopy without anaesthetic in the UK today?