Call for action to tackle Jersey gender health gap

Trudi Roscouet has called on ministers to listen to women on the matter

Results from a government survey show women in Jersey are living longer than men, but were in poor health for longer.

The women's health and wellbeing survey - which spoke to more than 1,500 women and a range of health workers - found women spent an average of 24 years with bad health, six more years than men.

Campaigner Trudi Roscouet, founder of Vitality 40 Plus, said there was a gender health gap in the island and said ministers needed to listen to women to address this.

Assistant minister for health and social services, deputy Andy Howell, said the department had made positive changes regarding women's health, including plans to reopen a women's ward at the hospital.

'Work together'

The survey asked what barriers they felt women and girls faced in Jersey, affecting their ability to access health and wellbeing services.

Overall, the three barriers selected most often were cost issues, difficulty attending appointments or activities, and an inability to self-refer to specialists.

Ms Roscouet said: "We all want to see action, there's no point having a strategy if it's going to be put into a drawer - we all agree that.

"But, what we are hoping we are going to see is, if the government has a finite pot of money, it needs to know where and what women want that money to be used for."

The survey also found breast and skin cancer rates for women were higher than in England, and only 27% of women who responded to the survey felt their mental health needs were being met.

Howell said she was "shocked" by some of the survey responses.

She said: "We'll work together with the women's political advisory group, we'll meet in January and we'll prioritise what we need to do, but while I'm here we're going to get cracking.

"We're already working on women's health and we're doing a lot and we're going to carry on doing as much as we can."