Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the average time between the onset of symptoms and diagnosis for people with endometriosis.

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. We are investing £25 million in women’s health hubs, so that women can get better access to care for menstrual problems, including for women with suspected or diagnosed endometriosis.

Through the NHS Delivery Plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlog of elective care we are increasing activity through dedicated and protected surgical hubs that conduct planned procedures only. Surgical hubs are focusing on providing high-volume low-complexity surgery such as laparoscopies for suspected endometriosis.

Endometriosis can only be definitively diagnosed through a laparoscopy under general anaesthetic, and so for women with less severe endometriosis it may be more appropriate to treat symptoms of endometriosis with a presumed diagnosis rather than with a definitive diagnosis, avoiding the need for an invasive procedure.