Trish Kelly’s experience of failing to be offered pain relief for gynaecological investigations (Letters, 7 June) is typical, but needn’t be. Pain relief is available, and using anaesthetic spray on the cervix makes a huge difference; research proves that. It needs to be the default for all women. The other major help is what we call “vocal local” – a well-trained assistant who is there for the woman. In the NHS contraception clinic where I work as a specialist nurse we call them an “advocate”, and they decide if the doctor or nurse should stop the procedure. It is an important shift in balance and gives back control to the woman. She is the most important person, not the doctor.
Our clinic pioneered offering Entonox for coil procedures, and we get women referred to us “who can’t cope with the pain”. This is wrong – all women need to say they won’t have a procedure without pain relief. It’s not much to ask for in 2022.
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