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 improve access to (a) mental health and (b) pain management support for people with endometriosis.

Long wait times are a feature of a system in desperate need of change. On mental health, we are already responding by delivering new, innovative models of care in the community, including piloting six neighbourhood adult mental health centres, operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to bring together community, crisis and inpatient care.

We are also recruiting an additional 8,500 mental health workers to ensure people can access treatment and support earlier with 6,700 of these having been recruited since July 2024. We are prioritising expansions of Talking Therapies and Individual Placement and Support schemes, supporting those with mild to moderate mental illness through earlier intervention.

Additionally, the National Institute for Health and Care Research, the research delivery arm of the Department, funds a range of research to support women’s health conditions, including endometriosis. Funding has been awarded to studies seeking to improve outcomes for women with endometriosis by better understanding the condition, enabling earlier diagnosis, and evaluating current and emerging treatment options. This includes research on mental health and pain management support for people with endometriosis.