Endometriosis Services

Sharon Hodgson Excerpts

Tuesday 24th March 2026 Westminster Hall

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Mrs Sharon Hodgson)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Dowd. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Ipswich (Jack Abbott) on securing this very important debate. I am honoured to respond to it on behalf of my hon. Friend the Minister for Secondary Care, who unfortunately cannot be here today—this area of policy would normally fall under her portfolio.

I want to start by thanking Monica for sharing her story with us today through her MP and—as we heard—friend, and for being with us today in the Public Gallery, along with a large number of women who are suffering from this most painful and debilitating condition. Monica’s distressing experience highlights that we still have more work to do to ensure that all women with endometriosis can access the care they need.

As we have heard, for too many years women with endometriosis have felt unheard or dismissed and have been left to cope alone. We recognise the wide impact the condition has on education, work, family life and wellbeing, as well as on mental health, as the hon. Member for Eastleigh (Liz Jarvis) said, and we acknowledge that that is unacceptable.

This year’s Endometriosis Awareness Month theme is “endometriosis doesn’t wait”. That highlights the urgent need to reduce diagnosis times, improve care and address the impact of this debilitating condition. The Government are not waiting: we have already taken action to ensure that women with endometriosis have access to the services that they need. Many women spend years seeking answers, as we have heard today, being misdiagnosed, having symptoms minimised or being passed from service to service. The experience highlighted by all hon. Members who have spoken in the debate and by Endometriosis UK’s recent report underlines why earlier diagnosis and consistent, compassionate care must be central to our approach.

That is why we have introduced Jess’s rule, requiring GPs to reconsider diagnosis where symptoms persist, as the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Hinckley and Bosworth (Dr Evans) mentioned. We are also rolling out Martha’s rule, giving in-patients in acute hospitals in England the ability to initiate a rapid review of their case by someone outside their immediate care team. Those measures will help ensure that women’s concerns are not dismissed.

[Dr Evans]

Those were the words that the Minister’s colleague read out in the previous debate, but I have no gripes about the Department saying the same thing. My question is about Jess’s rule and its interaction when there is a single point of referral. There will be a rub between GPs who say that someone needs to be seen because they might have a diagnosis of endometriosis and the system saying that those patients will be bounced back. I would be grateful if the Minister could clarify what that rule will look like in practice, because endometriosis is a good example to demonstrate it.

[Mrs Hodgson]

I was going to come on to what the hon. Gentleman said about that, as well as his request for an update on women’s health hubs. I will take the opportunity to write to him about that update and his specific question on how referrals will work. I am aware that colleagues have raised issues with referrals and, as the hon. Gentleman says, endometriosis will be a good example of whether that system is working as it should. I do not have the answer to hand, but I commit to writing to him on that.

We are also expanding access to diagnostic services. Community diagnostic centres are being rolled out countrywide for women on gynaecological pathways. Last month, 106 centres offered out-of-hours appointments so that women could get vital tests around work and caring responsibilities.

We are modernising how specialist care is delivered. In September, we announced the new online hospital NHS Online, which will be unconstrained by geographical boundaries. It will better align clinical capacity with patient demand so that patients will be seen and triaged faster. Earlier this year, we confirmed that menstrual problems, often a sign of conditions such as endometriosis, will be among the first nine conditions available for referral from 2027. Details are being worked through ahead of next year’s launch. Additionally, we are supporting integrated care boards to expand women’s health services at neighbourhood level, building on the successful pilot of women’s health hubs, so that good practice is spread and services are improved everywhere.

NHS England is currently updating the service specification for severe endometriosis, which will improve the standards of care for women with severe endometriosis by ensuring specialist endometriosis services have access to the most up-to-date evidence and advice. That will be published in due course.

[Mims Davies]

The Minister is being very generous in giving way, and I wish her extremely well in her new post. On the point of the reconstruction of how services work, as mentioned by my hon. Friend the Member for Hinckley and Bosworth (Dr Evans): could the Minister undertake to do work, for people like my constituent Eleanor, so that there is a reduction in A&E visits because the other services are working? It is in the interests of the integrated care board to deliver these changes.

[Mrs Hodgson]

Yes—I or my colleague in the Department will undertake to look at that and ensure the hon. Lady receives a response.

In response to questions on data and research raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Hampstead and Highgate (Tulip Siddiq), and the hon. Members for Strangford (Jim Shannon) and for Bath (Wera Hobhouse), the Department, through the National Institute for Health and Care Research, has commissioned several studies focused on endometriosis diagnosis, treatment and patient experience. At present, the NIHR is funding six active research awards, totalling an investment of approximately £7.8 million. That includes a new £2.3 million award on the effectiveness of pain management for endometriosis, starting this month.

In response to the hon. Member for Strangford asking the Department to engage with health Ministers in the Northern Ireland Executive to discuss any learnings, best practice and areas to improve, I commit to do that. That is a great suggestion.

The hon. Member for Bath asked me about the Women and Equalities Committee inquiry into reproductive health conditions. I am grateful for the work that Committee is doing and welcome its report on that important topic. The Department will be issuing an official response to the report’s recommendations in due course.

Research has already led to new treatments being made available, including NICE approval of two pills to treat endometriosis, relugolix and linzagolix—oh, to have the skill of a doctor in pronouncing these complicated drug names! Those drugs are estimated to help around 1,000 women with severe endometriosis for whom other treatment options have not been effective.

No one should have to put up with chronic pain, which is one of the most common symptoms of endometriosis. The renewed women’s health strategy is under development, so I cannot say exactly what will be included, but the published strategy will set out the actions we are taking to improve women’s experiences, including around pain. As part of our engagement informing the renewal of that strategy, we held a roundtable on women’s experiences of pain, chaired by Baroness Merron and attended by women with lived experience and by expert organisations. That roundtable is informing our work to renew the strategy.

Better care also depends on better understanding. Improving public and healthcare professionals’ awareness of endometriosis will reduce the stigma, of which a number of Members spoke, and will ensure that symptoms are recognised rather than normalised or dismissed. In response to the concern of my hon. Friend the Member for Hampstead and Highgate about DWP training for assessors, I commit to write to the DWP to make that very point.

In response to the hon. Member for Chichester (Jess Brown-Fuller) and the Liberal Democrat spokesperson, the hon. Member for North Shropshire (Helen Morgan), the General Medical Council has strengthened women’s health representation in training. Since last year it has required UK medical graduates to pass the medical licensing assessment, encouraging a better understanding of common women’s health problems. That assessment includes topics on women’s health, including endometriosis.

Women’s health is also built into the Royal College of General Practitioners’ curriculum for trainee GPs, which brings together educational resources and clinical guidance to support primary care teams. Clinical guidance has been strengthened, too: NICE updated its endometriosis guidelines in 2024 to support more consistent decision making and faster routes to specialist input. NICE is working with the NHS to ensure the adoption of this best practice for endometriosis care, including access to approved medicines.

Research indicates that women’s experiences of healthcare are not uniform, as we have heard, and particularly that outcomes can vary sharply between different communities. Ethnically diverse women with endometriosis can encounter additional hurdles in getting a diagnosis and appropriate support. We will not accept those disparities as inevitable. Our ambition is for a fairer Britain, where people live well for longer and spend less time in ill health, and where women, whatever their background, can rely on high-quality care.

[Tulip Siddiq]

My hon. Friend the Member for Erith and Thamesmead (Ms Oppong-Asare) has just appeared, and under parliamentary conventions is not allowed to intervene, so I rise to say that she is hosting a screening of a BAFTA-winning film about endometriosis and the experiences of women in the Jubilee Room at 4.30 pm, if anyone is interested.

[Mrs Hodgson]

That was an excellent intervention, I have to say; I am glad that we will all be out of here in time to go and enjoy that. For the ladies and gentlemen in the Gallery, do not worry: it is free entry and no invite is needed. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Erith and Thamesmead (Ms Oppong-Asare) for all she does on women’s health. She has led the way, more than most in Parliament, on the issue in her time here. That is recognised, and I thank her for it.

We are hopefully shifting the centre of gravity of care from hospitals to communities, with neighbourhood services designed around local need. Earlier this month, we published a neighbourhood health framework, setting out three reform agendas for ICBs, local authorities and civil society to deliver the aims of neighbourhood health. We have done this to improve services for people who need routine healthcare; to improve proactive care, including maintaining and developing access to women’s health services; and to deliver better alternatives to hospital care.

[Adam Dance]

Ami is at home watching, and thanks everyone for speaking, but one of the things she said would help her is continuity in seeing the same GP. As we heard earlier, it took 22 years for her to be diagnosed. The other issue she faces is that she cannot have children, and raising the limit for fertility treatment would be helpful. Will the Minister arrange to meet Ami with me?

[Mrs Hodgson]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for bringing the details of Ami’s case to us. Waiting 22 years for a diagnosis is shocking, and I suppose it would have been very difficult to have continuity of care over such a long time, but I take on board the point that he makes. When we—myself included—go to the GP, we often see a different person every time. As I said, this is not my brief, so I will feed his request for a meeting back to the Minister for Secondary Care. I cannot promise on her behalf, but we have heard his request.

The framework I was just outlining provides clarity and consistency, supporting joined-up partnership between ICBs and local authorities, working together to develop locally led neighbourhood health plans. This will hopefully address some of the concerns raised by the hon. Member for Yeovil (Adam Dance) about continuity of care.

Since coming into office, this Government have delivered over 5 million extra appointments in our first year; reduced the numbers on gynaecological waiting lists by over 24,000 women; and given women easier access to the morning-after pill, free of charge. A lot done; a lot more to do. We have made strong progress in turning the commitments in the last Government’s women’s health strategy, which the hon. Member for Hinckley and Bosworth highlighted, into tangible action. Our renewed strategy will set out how this Government are taking further steps to improve women’s health as we deliver the 10-year health plan. It will address gaps from the 2022 strategy, and go further to create a system that listens to women, tackles health inequalities and makes progress on conditions such as endometriosis.

Renewing the strategy will help identify and remove enduring barriers to high-quality care, such as long waits for diagnosis, and will ensure professionals listen and respond to women’s needs. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Ipswich for bringing forward this important debate, and all hon. Members for sharing so many of their constituents’ stories. I give special thanks to Monica and all the women who are in the Public Gallery to bear witness and push us to do more. We have heard them, and I commit to doing what I can to ensure that their efforts have not been in vain.