What is the current state of women's health in Ireland? We found out
The majority of Irish women feel they are in good physical and mental shape, exercise regularly, and want to drink less.
The snapshot of women's health was captured by an Irish Examiner Ipsos B&A nationwide opinion poll.
Among the main findings are:
Two out of three have children — the average is 2.29 — but there are signs that family size will continue to fall (less than half of mums with a single child would like to have a second);
Some 4% of the 1,000 women surveyed are pregnant;
Three out of four women over age 35 have experienced menopause, but only half of women in perimenopause or menopause seek medical/healthcare professional advice or support;
Evidence of differences in treatment related to the gender of a GP, with women who saw a male GP three times as critical (17% vs 6%) of quality of care as opposed to those who saw a female GP;
There is large support for State-funded hormone replacement therapy programme, but 48% of women in menopause have used it (38% of women currently in menopause);
38% have been to a healthcare professional about mental health in recent years, and there are difficulties accessing qualified professionals;
One in three feel positively about Ozempic and a quarter would consider using it.
41% feel it is difficult to get a GP appointment.
Some 65% said they felt prenatal care access was good or very good, with just 33% saying the same about breastfeeding supports.
Women entering menopause now are far more likely to get medical advice than those over age 60 were.
Almost half the 1,078 women surveyed said it is easier to talk about mental health struggles now, but 13% said access to help was very good in their experience.
Learnings
So what can we learn from the overall findings?
Analysing the results by age shows the positive impact of better information, better education, and women feeling empowered to ask more about their own health.
While 31% of women who answered on experiences of postpartum care in pregnancy described their experience as poor or very poor, the Ipsos analysis showed this was 'more so for women in their 50s and 60s'.
It is very sad those women still carry that trauma with them, and that is remains vivid enough to be shared during a survey undertaken only last month.
Feelgood editor Irene Feighan reflected on the findings, noting the mix of positive and negative areas.
She said: 'The survey revealed that some healthcare developments are reaching younger women, including easier access to lactation consultations and breastfeeding support services.
I hope such improvements will continue to expand to a point where women in Ireland will experience the world-class healthcare they deserve.
She welcomed the evidence that 'the majority are taking responsibility for their health and actively seeking solutions' for themselves. However, she also said the responses highlight what is missing from services for many women.
'Three in 10 said information provided about postpartum recovery and self care was either poor or very poor, while almost 25% said support received for infant care was lacking,' she said.
Other less health-focused questions revealed changing attitudes to ageing and to family. One in 10 said their GP offers cosmetic treatments and one in seven said that their dentist does.
Looking at treatment, 10% has had Botox, and one in 16 had lip fillers, with Ipsos finding one in eight have had either treatment.
Interestingly, more women think their peers are having work done than the data shows is really the case.
However, 43% said they would not use the popular weight-loss drug Ozempic, and only 11% said they would really think about taking the drug.
The data also shows a continuing decline in alcohol-use, with 36% of women aged 25 to 34 saying they want to reduce the amount of alcohol they drink.
Only 5% of women of all ages said they drink everyday or nearly every day.
Family
When Feelgood launched 25 years ago, the fertility rate in Ireland was 1.9 births per woman. It is now 1.5.
This was reflected in women's answers, with the average family size reported at 2.29 children per family.
Struggles with infertility were reflected throughout the survey, between women talking about the cost of treatment — only 9% said it is reasonable in Ireland — as well as limited access to care.
Some 76% said they were in favour of the State funding fertility treatment.
Many people will have seen the excellent Housewife of the Year documentary recently in cinemas or on RTÉ.
Today, just one in eight of the women who answered described themselves as working full time in the home. Some 60% are in workplaces, with the overall figures showing 36% working full time and 21% working part time. Only 2% of the overall numbers said they were self employed and this figure included farmers.
Students made up 6% of those who answered overall, and accounted for 41% of women aged 18 to 24 years old.
The survey does not delve into reasons why some areas of women's health have seen so many changes in recent years, but there are hints.
Analysis of the data on whether women had a good or poor experience in seeking perimenopause treatment shows 24% who felt their treatment was poor had seen a male GP versus 15% who had been to a female GP or healthcare professional.
It is not to suggest all male doctors are indifferent to these symptoms, but it clearly has made a difference to many patients that the majority of GPs are women, according to the Medical Council of Ireland.
It is noteworthy many services women want more of — mental health care, post-natal hubs, fertility clinics — are non-hospital services.
Access to these services is changing, as the HSE creates essentially a second healthcare system in parallel to hospitals under Sláintecare.
New mothers living near Listowel, Kerry, can get post-natal care in a clinic there without going to Tralee maternity unit. Older women living near Nenagh, Tipperary can benefit from menopausal and other women's health care from the clinic.
If you are giving birth in a small number of counties including Cork, Kerry, and Waterford, you can opt for home birth under schemes such as community midwifery or integrated hospital system.
What this survey shows is how localised some of these improvements are, with women in a number of areas not seeing the changes on the ground yet.
The survey was carried out by Ipsos B+A for Feelgood, with a nationally representative sample of 1,078 women aged over 16.
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