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 establish care pathways for endometriosis outside the pelvic area, including thoracic endometriosis.

NHS England is reviewing the service specification for severe endometriosis, including care pathways for thoracic endometriosis and expects to report on the outcome in 2023. This will ensure that specialist endometriosis services have access to the most recent evidence and advice and improve standards of care for women with severe endometriosis.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) guideline on endometriosis was published in 2017. In December 2021, NICE amended the section on referral for women with suspected or confirmed endometriosis to highlight that women with endometriosis outside the pelvic cavity should be referred to a specialist endometriosis centre. NICE is undertaking a further review of its guideline and will consider any further updates.