Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department has taken to (a) improve (i) understanding and (ii) awareness of endometriosis in the NHS and (b) ensure that women with endometriosis are (A) diagnosed and (B) treated efficiently.

The Women’s Health Strategy sets out our ambitions for all healthcare professionals to be well informed about women’s health and supported to provide women with the best care possible.

Women’s health is a core competency for general practitioners (GPs) and is included in the Royal College of General Practitioners’ (RCGP) curriculum for trainee GPs. The RCGP has developed a ‘Women’s Health Library’, which brings together educational resources and guidelines on women’s health topics.

The General Medical Council will introduce the Medical Licensing Assessment from the academic year 2024/2025. This includes women’s health topics such as endometriosis, encouraging a better understanding of endometriosis for doctors starting their careers.

We are improving access to diagnosis and treatment services for women with endometriosis. We are investing £25 million in women’s health hubs to improve women’s access to essential services for menstrual problems and more. We are also 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.

NHS England is also updating the service specification for severe endometriosis, which defines the expected standards of care. The updated service specification is expected to be published before the end of March 2024.