Jim Shannon

My goodness—that is quite unbelievable. We tend to find that the situation on the mainland is better than back home in Northern Ireland. I fear that Northern Ireland has fallen far behind, and that little consideration is being given to the impact that that is having. The capital funding from the Department of Health in Northern Ireland does not go far enough to accommodate everything that we need. How many more women must suffer for how many more years before the scale of the issue is realised? It is my duty, not only as my party’s spokesperson for health but because of my personal experiences over the years, to represent such issues as endometriosis services. It is no secret that more must be done: more engagement, more research and more resourcing. I look to the Minister and ask about the research being done—I will make a request similar to the one I made to her in the debate we had on sudden unexplained death in childhood this morning. Some advances are taking place, but it is questionable whether they will be expedited quickly enough to catch up everyone. I also strongly but politely ask the Minister to discuss the issue with Mike Nesbitt—the Northern Ireland Executive Minister who holds the health portfolio—in the hope that this time next year, in Endometriosis Action Month, we can come together again and that the situation will be better for all those thousands of women across the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland who deserve better treatment.