Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the current average diagnosis time for endometriosis.

The Government is committed to prioritising women’s health and improving the care for gynaecological conditions, including endometriosis.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence published an update to the guideline on endometriosis diagnosis and management in November 2024. This makes firmer recommendations for healthcare professionals on referral and investigations for women with suspected endometriosis, which will help women receive a diagnosis and treatment more quickly.

For many women with symptoms of endometriosis, initial pharmacological treatment takes place in primary care and can be in parallel with a referral for further investigations. As a result, looking at diagnosis times alone is unlikely to be the only measure of whether women are receiving care for endometriosis in a timely matter. NHS England is looking into metrics that best reflect timely access to care and outcomes for women, including for endometriosis. This work will explore whether time to diagnosis is the optimum measure.

An ongoing study by the Office for National Statistics is investigating the impact of endometriosis on women's labour market outcomes. One component of this study is linking primary and secondary care data to better understand diagnosis times for endometriosis.