Endometriosis Services

Alex Easton Excerpts

Tuesday 24th March 2026 Westminster Hall

[Jack Abbott (Ipswich) (Lab/Co-op)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered access to endometriosis services.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Dowd. I welcome my hon. Friend the Minister to her place. Many people will recognise that she is a long-time champion of women and women’s health, so it is especially fitting that she is responding today. I am particularly grateful to have secured a debate during Endometriosis Awareness Month to discuss, as a matter of deep importance to women in Ipswich and across the country, access to local specialist endometriosis services.

Endometriosis affects one in 10 women. That means that more than 1.5 million women in the UK are living with a condition that causes chronic pain and infertility, and has profound effects on mental health. Yet for women in Ipswich, specialist care is out of reach. There is no specialist endometriosis clinic at Ipswich hospital, so women who are already living with debilitating pain and who have often waited years for a diagnosis, never mind treatment, are forced to travel to access the care that they desperately need. That is clearly wrong on so many levels.

I want to share the story of one of my constituents, Monica Thomas, who is here with us in the Public Gallery—that sounds very formal, but Monica was in the year below me at Earl Soham primary school 25 years ago. She has battled symptoms for nearly that long; it was 17 years before she finally got a diagnosis. She is now waiting for lung surgery due to having thoracic—as well as pelvic—endometriosis. Despite years of chest pain and breathing difficulties, she was refused referrals to a thoracic specialist and ended up seeking a private opinion. She lives in daily pelvic and chest pain, constantly deals with breathlessness and spends many days bedbound—thankfully not today, Monica.

Monica took her suffering and turned it into determination, resilience and strength. She founded Women’s Health Hope, an award-winning charity dedicated to supporting, advocating for and educating people about women’s health. It shines a light on the unique challenges that women face and creates a safe space in which no one feels alone on their journey. Monica really is a powerhouse and we should all be inspired by her, but also by all the women who have come down from Ipswich today, including Faye Ramsey and so many others. They are battling not just for themselves, but for so many of their friends and family members and many women yet to come—thank you for making the journey here today.

An almost unifying experience for women with endometriosis is having their symptoms overlooked, ignored and dismissed. They are told that they are overreacting and that pain is normal for women. A recent survey by Endometriosis UK found that 82% of respondents had been told by a healthcare practitioner that they were making a fuss about nothing, or had heard similar comments. It takes on average 10 visits to a GP before someone mentions endometriosis. In England, the average waiting time from first visiting a GP with symptoms to getting an endometriosis diagnosis is nine years and four months. Let that sink in: it takes nearly a decade just to get a diagnosis, never mind treatment.

Women are waiting to be diagnosed with a relatively common reproductive health condition and are suffering preventable adverse effects. A key reason for that is the normalisation of symptoms of reproductive ill health and particularly of severe period pain, the severity of which is often not believed. From a young age, women are taught to expect painful, heavy periods and that experiencing severe pain is nothing noteworthy and just par for the course—part of being a woman. We live in a society in which women are told to suck it up and endure pain that interferes with every aspect of their daily lives.

Women learn from a young age to hide their pain away because they must be overreacting and to feign headaches and stomach pains, migraines and food poisoning. More than 1 million women mask period pain sick days every year, because they feel unable to tell their boss the true reason. The systemic normalisation of symptoms means that women do not solicit medical help when they need it. Indeed, studies have shown that less than half of women with severe reproductive health conditions seek help.

The lack of specialist endometriosis services at Ipswich hospital is symbolic of how women’s pain has historically been deprioritised. Unsurprisingly, gynaecology has the largest waiting list of any specialty for working-age adults. As of January 2026, more than half a million women were waiting for gynaecological care. When specialist services are left to a postcode lottery, care for women in places such as Ipswich becomes even further out of reach. It deepens health inequalities, delays treatment and adds unnecessary barriers to accessing essential services.

[Alex Easton (North Down) (Ind)]

I thank the hon. Member for securing this debate. An estimated 75,000 women in Northern Ireland are living with endometriosis, with an average wait of seven to eight years for diagnosis. Does the hon. Member agree that it is vital that national clinical guidelines are properly implemented and that every hospital trust should have a designated endometriosis lead clinician?

[Jack Abbott]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention and completely agree with him. I have focused much of my speech on the lack of specialist care in Ipswich, but the postcode lottery is affecting people and communities across the United Kingdom, including in Northern Ireland.