A Crieff mum who lives with chronic pain claims women’s health services in Tayside are a “joke”.
Sophie Morris, 26, has lived with endometriosis since she was around 11 years old.
It took her a “battle” to get a diagnosis for the disease, which causes severe pain, heavy periods, and tissue to grow on the outside of the uterus.
On average, it takes more than seven years for a woman to be officially diagnosed with it.
Sophie moved to Crieff from the Isle of Skye in 2018 and was immediately referred to a gynaecologist by her GP.
She had to wait a year for an appointment and the required surgery to remove an endometrioma.
In the operating theatre, it was discovered that her left ovary was bleeding.
“They tried to save it but it collapsed,” said the mother of two.
“They told me that if my surgery had been delayed – even by a week – I would have died.”
‘Endometriosis like a cousin to cancer’ says Crieff mum
Sophie told The Courier: “I view endometriosis as like a cousin to cancer, it will forever keep developing and spreading, and you can slow the spread by having a hysterectomy.
“At the moment there is no cure but there are people developing urine tests, blood tests and focusing on trying to progress with treating this disease.
“As much as Google or doctors go ‘but it’s not going to kill you’, well, it nearly killed me and has killed other women.
“It’s causing people’s daily life to be like living in hell.
“It’s a horrible disease and they don’t take you seriously and they go ‘you’re just being a woman, here’s some contraceptives’.
“We don’t get listened to, we get laughed at.”
Long waiting lists for NHS Tayside women’s health services
The pain continued for Sophie and she found herself on multiple lengthy waiting lists to see a gynaecologist.
During a visit to Ninewells she was recommended a hormonal therapy injection, which she used for two months, but she says it made her suicidal and depressed.
Sophie said she phoned Perth Gynaecology Clinic to tell them her mental health had plummeted and she would like to be seen as soon as possible.
She claims to have been told the wait for an appointment would be at least four months.
The Crieff mum says she faced further frustration when she waited six weeks to hear from her doctor confirming she did not have cancer.
She said PRI did not send her results and that she had to find them in the records herself.
Sophie has now submitted two official complaints to NHS Tayside about waiting times, funding and urgency surrounding women’s health services.
“I had spoken to a lady from Ninewells when I put my last complaint in,” she added.
“They were basically trying to apologise to me for having to wait so long to find out I didn’t have cancer.
“I was like, imagine if I did and this took as long as it did.
“She was saying that they are severely underfunded and they have virtually no staff.
“A lot of it is a governmental issue.
“The hospitals don’t get enough funding and therefore they can’t hire the right amount of staff.”
‘Gynaecology to be a priority’ says women’s health minister
In response, Scottish Government’s public health minister Jenni Minto said: “Excessively long waits are not acceptable, and I sympathise with any patient whose treatment has failed to reach the standards we all expect from our health system.
“We are working intensively with NHS Boards to reduce the length of time people are waiting for appointments and treatment.
“Timely access to gynaecology services will be a priority in the next phase of our women’s health plan.
“In 2024-25, we allocated over £450,000 to gynaecology from our £30 million targeted investment in planned care, delivering around 3,500 additional new outpatient appointments.
“The 2025-26 budget, if approved by parliament, will provide a record £21 billion for health and social care, including a commitment to provide £200 million to help reduce waiting times and improve capacity.”
A spokesperson for NHS Tayside said: “Due to patient confidentiality, we never comment on matters relating to individual patients.
“Our patient experience team have received a complaint, which will be investigated in line with our normal procedures.”
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