Women waiting too long for NHS care because of ‘medical misogyny’, top doctor warns

Women are waiting too long for care because of “medical misogyny” within the NHS, the UK’s top gynaecologist has warned.

Dr Alison Wright, president of the Royal College of Gynaecologists and Obstetricians (RCOG), warned that women’s health conditions are often prioritised differently to men’s, with chronic and debilitating conditions such as endometriosis not being given the attention they deserve.

She also warned that A&E was being clogged up with women who need emergency treatment because they are waiting too long for routine procedures.

Speaking to The Independent ahead of the government’s new health plan for women, published by health secretary Wes Streeting on Wednesday, she said: “Misogyny exists across society... sadly, I’m having to say this in 2026.

“Women are not prioritised as they should be across the board, including when it comes to the health service. We, as gynaecologists, often have to really push for women to get a place in the operating theatre.”

She added: “An example [a colleague] gave me recently was of a man who had a testicular torsion, which is often treated as an emergency and taken to the operating room very quickly.

“Whereas, when a woman has a similar equivalent of torsion of her ovary, it’s not always treated as an emergency in the same way.”

Dr Wright claimed that robots were brought into hospitals “very quickly” for male urology surgery, while gynaecologists had to “jump through hoops” for the same technology.

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Source: The Independent, 15 April 2026