Mr. Damien Donoghue:

Yes, exactly. From my perspective as a male, my voice is here because of my partner and the journey we have gone through. As a clinician and a nurse, I just did not have enough training about it. That is startling to me. This is not the place to go throwing accusations but we do have to take a look and get awareness and education at all levels in our health service. From a nursing perspective through to that of a clinician, if we are to help diagnose, we need to have the proper education and that is probably lacking at present. Getting the awareness out there is a starting point in educating people.

It is a travesty that patients have to be their own best advocate. They are already going through this terrible journey of pain and suffering and then they have to try to communicate it. They have to be almost as proficient in the medical jargon as the clinician they are talking to. They are often not listened to. My partner has voiced her frustration to me in this regard. Communicating that now and getting an opportunity for us to be at the table to say the patient is paramount is very important. Let us get the patient's voice in there. That will resonate with the clinicians and may make them better listeners.