Rural Women New Zealand has made a submission to Pharmac in a bid to help create a more consistent supply of hormone replacement therapy.
A life-changer for many women, HRT availability has come under pressure globally, with New Zealand no exception and pharmacies across the country often running out completely.
To exacerbate the problem, the patches – when available – are dispensed in just a month’s supply at a time, which is of great inconvenience to those in rural communities, with many needing to travel quite some distances to reach a pharmacy.
Pharmac has begun a process towards funding an alternative, an oestrogen gel, which it is currently undertaking consultation about. RWNZ said that fast-tracking funded access to the gel is essential.
“The lack of supply of patches is distressing for those who’ve been prescribed the treatment, and shortages are especially hurting rural women,” said RWNZ board chair Sandra Matthews, who has a sheep and beef farm in Tairāwhiti.
“It can also affect productivity in our industry, and that’s all the way from grass roots to governance.”
She knows of women who’ve driven over an hour and a half to collect their prescription, only to drive home again without it due to lack of supplies. “Once stocks have arrived they have to drive all the way back again to get their medication.
“The petrol alone is expensive and then there’s the travel time when people have got many other commitments: working on the farm, children, or other jobs. It’s also reduces the time they have to dedicate to their communities, for instance helping out at schools or playgroups.”
In addition, Matthews said, with the pressures of calving and lambing season, getting time off farm is even harder. “This means a one month supply is very difficult to deal with emotionally, when you know you might run out and not be able to get to pick up more when they finally are back in stock.”
As well as working on farm, Matthews has a consultancy business coaching farmers to help improve efficiencies. She speaks from the heart when discussing HRT, having first been prescribed patches and progesterone capsules 12 months ago.
“I’d been feeling unwell for a couple of years, not knowing what was going on, and just thinking I was over stressed, especially when the cyclones came through last year because I was doing a lot of support work for other people,” she said.
“I’d first heard about HRT treatment when I was discussing with a friend how I was feeling. I told her I had brain fog, achy joints, weight gain, crankiness and sleeplessness. She asked if I’d thought about HRT. I didn’t know about it and then a couple of days later another friend said the same thing. They’d both just gone on it and found it’d made a huge difference to their mental state of mind, as well as a lot of other symptoms.”
Matthews did extensive research before asking her GP, who agreed for her to trial the oestrogen patches and progesterone pills.
“Within a couple of weeks, I was feeling so much better,” she said. “I couldn’t believe how beneficial they were. I had clarity of thought again, regained my organisational skills and my mental health improved greatly. Then when I started finding there was a shortage of the patches it was so stressful.”
Living 50km outside of Gisborne, Matthews would phone her pharmacy before driving to town and they would keep her in the loop regarding stock availability.
“It doesn’t reduce the anxiety of wondering whether there’ll be any for the next month, though,” she said. “If you’re affected by a lack of these hormones, you cannot function properly, and it’s very hard to understand that unless you’re experiencing it.”
Matthews pointed out that women are 50% of the farming industry so the implications in terms of productivity and family life are wide-ranging.
“There’re a lot of women out there struggling emotionally and physically with not being able to get the patches and it’s affecting their emotional stability.
“We’d like to see this gel available from the beginning of November this year, which is what we’ve detailed in our submission. We’ve also included the difficulties of only being allowed to collect one month’s supply when distance, cost of travel and poor roading can be issues for rurally isolated women
“Especially bearing in mind it took Pharmac 10 years to approve progesterone to be funded, we need them to make a very quick decision on this. It’s vital this is addressed without delay.”
