Being believed is where good care starts. Victoria has written that down, and the next step is building it in.
Women's Health in the South East
The Victorian Women’s Pain Standard, published on 11 September 2026, says that women, girls and gender diverse people should be taken seriously and believed when they talk about pain. Women’s Health in the South East is asking one thing of what comes next: name how the Standard will be measured, and build that answer in partnership with the services already doing the work.
“Being believed is not a personality trait or a stroke of luck. It is something a health system either designs in or leaves out,” said WHISE Chief Executive Officer Kit McMahon.
“The Standard says plainly that it should be designed in. That is a real change, and it was written with clinicians, experts and women who have lived with pain.”
The Standard responds to the Inquiry into Women’s Pain and was published on the final day of Women’s Health Week. Of the more than 13,000 people who contributed to the Inquiry, 71% said they felt dismissed by health professionals and 53% had a delayed diagnosis. The Inquiry did not find a workforce that does not care. It found appointment lengths, referral pathways and training that produced the same result regardless, and each of those was designed by someone, which means each can be designed differently.
Women’s Health in the South East (WHISE) is the regional women’s health service for Victoria’s Southern Metropolitan Region, working across ten local government areas and 1.56 million people.
The Inquiry is being written into how services plan
Responding to the Inquiry is now part of what health services set out in their planning. For months WHISE has worked alongside local health services across the region on that response, going through what would change in a clinic, on a ward and at a triage desk so that a woman is believed the first time she reports pain.
“Putting the Inquiry into service planning is what got everyone into the room, and that was the right call,” Ms McMahon said.
“What has happened in the room has been better than a requirement could ask for. Nobody is ticking a box. They are asking what would actually change for a woman at a triage desk, which is a harder question.
“There has been a lot to be encouraged by. Women came together and told the truth about their care, people with power listened, and now the services are leaning in. The most encouraging day is still ahead of us, the one where a woman does not have to think about any of this because the care is simply equitable.”
WHISE gathered the lived experience of more than 120 women and gender diverse people for the Inquiry, with Afri-Aus Care and Wellsprings for Women. The Inquiry’s recommendations have been publicly supported from both sides of the Victorian Parliament, which gives this work a good chance of outlasting a term.
What turns a standard into care
Three things would complete it: clarity on who holds responsibility for the four principles, what clinical education supports them in practice, and how women’s accounts of their own care feed back in.
The Standard is published alongside a guide for women on talking to healthcare professionals about their pain, which is carefully made and women will use. Clinicians, services and health agencies are well placed to champion what comes next, implementing the Standard in training, credentialling and the review of care, and leading the companion resource addressed to their own workforce.
“We would like to help build that, and we are already doing a version of it here,” Ms McMahon said.
“Name how the Standard will be measured, and build that answer in partnership with the services already doing the work.”
“A woman walking into an appointment in Frankston or Dandenong should be able to expect a good one rather than hope for it. Agreeing how we will know it is happening is the last piece, and it is the most achievable part of all of this.”
Support is available from 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732.
ENDS
Notes to editors
Victorian Women’s Pain Standard, Victorian Department of Health, published at health.vic.gov.au, 11 September 2026
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The Standard states that all women, girls and gender diverse people should be “taken seriously and believed while talking about pain”; “listened to and supported to ask questions”; “respected as partners in decisions about their body, treatment and care”; and “given choices and practical support to manage their pain safely and effectively”.
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The Standard states that it recognises the expertise of health professionals and is “a basis for continued learning and improvement as evidence and practice evolve”.
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As published, the Standard does not set out implementation arrangements, monitoring or evaluation, or training requirements.
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health.vic.gov.au/womens-health-and-wellbeing-program/victorian-pain-standard
Talking to healthcare professionals about your pain: a resource for women, Victorian Department of Health, Women’s Health and Wellbeing Program, published March 2026
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Published under the heading “Victorian Women’s Pain Standard: a framework for best practice pain care”.
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Contains a checklist of twenty one questions for women to ask healthcare professionals, a list of goals women may wish to raise, and a list of questions a healthcare professional may ask.
Inquiry into Women’s Pain, Bridging the Gender Pain Gap, Victorian Department of Health, released 9 November 2025
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More than 13,000 people contributed, through surveys, written submissions and focus groups conducted between January and October 2024.
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90% of respondents reported pain lasting longer than one year. 54% reported pain every day. 53% reported a delayed diagnosis.
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71% of respondents reported feeling dismissed by health professionals.
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The report made 27 recommendations across seven areas, including that standards be created setting out what patients should be able to expect.
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The Inquiry identified barriers for regional and rural women, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, LGBTIQA+ women and women with disabilities.
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health.vic.gov.au/inquiry-into-womens-pain
Cross-party support
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The Age, September 2026, reported that the Shadow Minister for Health said she had no plans to change any aspects of the Inquiry’s recommendations should the Coalition win the November election. [CONFIRM before use.]
Women’s Health Week
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Jean Hailes Women’s Health Week 2026 ran from 7 to 11 September 2026.
WHISE work on the Victorian Inquiry into Women’s Pain
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Four community forums across Mordialloc, Bass, Clyde North and Hampton Park, May to July 2024, gathering the lived experience of more than 120 women and gender diverse people.
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Submissions co-authored with Afri-Aus Care and Wellsprings for Women, and a contribution to the statewide Women’s Health Services Network submission.
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Two follow up forums in April 2026 in Mordialloc and Narre Warren South, hosted by local members of parliament, with lived experience panels at the centre of each forum. Published as From Inquiry to Action.
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WHISE Women’s Pain Forums Snapshot Summary, April 2026. Participants called for systems where women’s accounts of their own bodies are treated as legitimate clinical evidence from the outset, rather than something that must be repeatedly proven.
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My Body, My Voice, with Women with Disabilities Victoria and the Butterfly Foundation, co-designed with women with disabilities, producing eleven recommendations for Victoria’s health and social services system covering clinician training, communication, intersectional practice and early intervention.
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WHISE work on the gender pain gap: whise.org.au/addressing-the-gender-pain-gap/
Region
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Victoria’s Southern Metropolitan Region covers ten local government areas: Bayside, Cardinia, Casey, Frankston, Glen Eira, Greater Dandenong, Kingston, Mornington Peninsula, Port Phillip and Stonnington, and 25 state electorate districts.
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Victorian Population Health Survey 2023, published at whole of region level: 21.1% of women reported being unable to see a general practitioner when they needed to, compared with 14.6% of men.
Support is available from 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732.
About us:
Women's Health in the South East (WHISE) is the women's health service for Victoria's Southern Metropolitan Region, covering ten local government areas — Bayside, Cardinia, Casey, Frankston, Glen Eira, Greater Dandenong, Kingston, Mornington Peninsula, Port Phillip and Stonnington. WHISE is place-based. It works where women live, alongside local government, health services, community organisations and women themselves, on gender equity, women's health and wellbeing, and the primary prevention of violence against women. Its focus is preventive and structural: building the conditions in which women can be healthy and safe, rather than responding only once harm has occurred. The region is one of the most diverse in Australia, and much of WHISE's work is with and for migrant and refugee women, women seeking asylum, and women in the outer growth corridors — including community consultation in language, partnerships with settlement and multicultural services, and work with health and community sector partners to make services usable for women who are not well served by mainstream design. WHISE contributed to Victoria's Inquiry into Women's Pain, including running consultations across the region, where women repeatedly described their pain and health concerns being dismissed during and after pregnancy. That work informs the position WHISE will put to the Senate Select Committee. As one of twelve Victorian women's health services, WHISE also works as part of a statewide network, and with the Women's Health Services Network nationally, on policy, advocacy and evidence.
Contact details:
Dos Hetherington, WHISE Communications Lead,
0412317334
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The Standard responds to the Inquiry into Women's Pain and was published on the final day of Women's Health Week. Image: stock photography
