Gynaecology has one of the longest waiting lists in the UK. Women’s health has been neglected for too long

• Ranee Thakar is president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists

A few weeks ago, a police officer came to my urogynaecology clinic for a follow-up appointment. She told me that, since her surgery, her life had changed completely. When I first met her she had been waiting years for treatment for incontinence, and she was miserable. She’d been taking more and more time off work as her condition deteriorated, and had started to feel that there was no hope. Now, after a relatively simple operation, she’s back at work and thrilled with life. I love my job, and I cannot measure the joy that we give to patients when we manage to help them, but I’m frustrated that they often have to wait so long.

As a new report from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) shows, women such as my patient are the tip of the iceberg. It found that more than three-quarters of a million women are on waiting lists trying to get treatment for serious gynaecological conditions – and they are just the ones who have seen a GP and been referred onwards for specialist care. Gynaecology has one of the worst waiting lists across the UK. More than three-quarters (76%) of women waiting for care reported worsening mental health and more than two-thirds (69%) said they were unable to take part in daily activities, including work, socialising, having relationships and caring responsibilities. Many of them mentioned experiencing pain, exhaustion, breathlessness, dizziness, anaemia and infections because of their worsening conditions.

Ranee Thakar is president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and a consultant obstetrician and urogynaecologist at Croydon university hospital

As told to Katy Guest