Donna Davies, 56, is about to have her large bowel removed because of complications from a vaginal mesh device that left her in constant pain for nearly two decades. The mesh, fitted after she developed stress urinary incontinence in her 30s, was eventually removed, but only after her husband spoke up and made medical staff take her seriously.

"I didn't feel as if I was believed - the only way I can explain it was that I was being cut by glass every time I moved," Davies said. The procedure, which has since been paused by the NHS, was performed on an estimated 100,000 women in the UK for incontinence or prolapse.

Davies attended a women's health summit in Wales this week, where minister Delyth Jewell acknowledged that women's pain is too often dismissed as "normal." "I wonder how many women will have heard the words 'this might hurt' when they go to the doctor? That shouldn't be normal," Jewell said, promising to strengthen rules so health boards include women in service design.

Isabel Linton from Fair Treatment for the Women of Wales pointed out that getting a diagnosis is just the start: "Women are much more likely to die of a heart attack because symptoms are based on male symptoms." The summit aimed to draft minimum standards for the Women's Health Plan, launched in December 2024, but critics worry progress may be slow.

Davies, who now requires a permanent stoma, summed up the frustration: "I feel that women in Wales are being forgotten. There are no specialist services in Wales for women like myself, yet nine specialist centres in England - we do feel forgotten."