First two endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics, for disease affecting one in nine women, open in South Australia in 2023
Working at the Kadina Medical Associates's endometriosis and pelvic pain clinic on South Australia's Yorke Peninsula, doctor Anna Kearney, pictured with fifth-year medical student Jasmine, was helping change the way medical professionals saw the disease.
South Australia gained its first two endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics in 2023 as part of a national programme funded by the Australian government.
The first South Australian clinic was at Kadina Medical Associates in Kadina on Yorke Peninsula followed by Thrive Family Practice at the Adelaide seaside suburb of Glenelg North. The centres, in existing general practice clinics, aimed to shorten diagnosis times and promote access to intervention, care and treatment.
One in nine women had endometriosis, a disease caused by tissue similar to the lining of the uterus growing outside the uterus, or other pelvic pain conditions. It took on average seven years for endometriosis to be diagnosed.
Each clinic received $700,000 in funding to hire specialised staff and access resources or training.
The Kadina Medical Associates clinic’s Dr Anna Kearney had worked in obstetrics and gynaecology in tertiary and rural centres. Kearney was passionate about rural medicine and had skills from preconception to contraception to palliation. Her areas of interest include in women’s health, period problems, endometriosis and chronic pelvic pain syndromes. She welcomed better care and improved outcomes with a multidisciplinary team and holistic care approach to chronic disease management. Kearney was a course coordinator for the Adelaide University school of medicine, teaching obstetrics and gynaecology through the Adelaide Rural Clinical Skill.
In a social media post, Thrive Family Practice said it was "honoured" to receive the federal government funding to set up a multidisciplinary clinic: “We can't wait to embrace the opportunity to help more women”.
The Australian government’s assistant health minister Ged Kearney said it was “hoping these clinics will give the specialised care and give women the confidence that they need to feel believed when they present with pelvic pain, to get the treatment they deserve and to live full and healthy lives."
