Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to reduce the time between a woman first presenting with symptoms of endometriosis to (a) being diagnosed and (b) receiving treatment.

The Women’s Health Strategy sets out our ambition for improving care for women and girls with endometriosis, with a reduced diagnosis time for those with severe endometriosis. Patients with symptoms of endometriosis will be prioritised based on clinical need. Endometriosis can only be definitively diagnosed through a laparoscopy under general anaesthetic, and it can be more appropriate to treat mild symptoms of endometriosis without a definitive diagnosis, avoiding the need for an invasive procedure.

To help tackle waiting lists, including in gynaecology and endometriosis related surgery the Government plans to spend more than £8 billion over the next three years, in addition to the £2 billion Elective Recovery Fund and £700 million Targeted Investment Fund already made available to systems last year to drive up elective activity and tackle long waiting lists.  The Government is investing an additional £3.3 billion in each of 2023/24 and 2024/25 to support the National Health Service in England, enabling rapid action to improve emergency, elective and primary care performance towards pre-pandemic levels.