Beyond the wonders of Homeopathy I would say my second passion is Women’s Health. I think it is partly because women are generally really poorly served in the medical world and partly because when the right support is in place we can be healthy, dynamic and limitless in our potential. This is often harder to achieve than you would think as a lot of the choices for health care within the medical world are outdated, scarce and not really appropriate for the presenting problem.
In the 1980’s I lived in London which I loved. I had my first son there in my local hospital the Royal Free, in Hampstead. Apart from the midwife services and the hospital services my main support for specifically female health was a local NHS clinic. This clinic provided a drop-in service and appointments if that worked better for you, testing, contraception and the ability to refer should it be needed.
All the staff were women – imagine! Imagine going to a clinic to discuss something you are worried about, feeling vulnerable about or maybe just not sure about and when you get there the women running that clinic know what you need simply because they are women and can feel what you are feeling, can share your experience and have the expertise to help.
I, like many of my contemporaries used this service and relied on this service for so many aspects of our health. It was a successful service. It provided advice and information, testing when needed for everything from pregnancy to sexual health to contraception. And yet these “Family Planning Clinics” no longer exist. So yes those services are still available in different ways within the NHS but mostly we go to our GP’s as the first line of health care.
Mmm – our GP – overworked, overstretched and probably soon to be privatised. They also seem to work behind an almost impenetrable wall designed to make you rethink whether or not you actually need medical advice. And then when you do finally get there it’s 50/50 whether you see a woman or not.
My manifesto for women’s health is quite simple really – can we as women have the choice to be treated by women please? Can you imagine in this day and age to be able to access women professionals for our female health? Not a random male GP, not a random male “consultant”, not a random male pharmacist and definitely not Dr Google. But instead a fully qualified female doctor with a clear path for referral to other well qualified female health professionals. Just like men do when they need to have their prostates checked out by their usually male urologist.
I wonder how well we would all be with that facility in our hands. Stay strong gals – get your support wherever you can – nutrition, acupuncture, massage, yoga, meditation and of course homeopathy. The effort is worth it and I am truly sorry the health support I was able to access just doesn’t exist in a useful and meaningful form any more. A revolution within the NHS is definitely needed on so many levels but if the powers that be could possibly consider reinstating these clinics I would suggest our overall health would once again be within our control and we would all have the opportunity to be well and blossom.
In the meantime give your local Homeopath a shot.