Dr Liz O'Riordan: Women's health must be taken more seriously

Women's health must be taken more seriously and women must be empowered to seek help for any changes in their health, a former breast cancer surgeon has said. Dr Liz O'Riordan, who has had breast cancer three times, was a keynote speaker at the Let's Talk Women Health event held at The Hold in Ipswich on Saturday. The event, attended by more than 300 people, aimed to dispel myths and online misinformation as well as connect women with experts in pregnancy, fertility, menopause, endometriosis and neurodiversity. She said: "We are now realising we deserve more and for me it's teaching women what to say so they get taken seriously." O'Riordan previously worked at Ipswich Hospital and was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015 at the age of 40 and underwent a mastectomy. "Women on the whole - I wasn't - aren't very good at standing up for ourselves." Due to misinformation being "everywhere", she said women are left questioning who to turn to for reliable resources. She said: "You can't get easy access to your doctors. It's doctors like me who are creating content trying to breach that space and help people come to us and not Chat GPT. "I think it's really important women get togeth