Question

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, if she will hold discussions with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on (a) the impact on women of waiting times for the diagnosis of and (b) the potential merits of additional funding for the training of specialists in endometriosis.

Equalities Ministers have regular discussions with other Ministers across government on a range of issues, including women’s health.

We have invested £520 million to improve access to general practitioners (GPs) during the pandemic. This is in addition to £1.5 billion in 2020 to create an additional 50 million GP appointments by 2024, which will improve access for patients with endometriosis. The NHS has also published the Delivery Plan for Tackling the COVID-19 Backlog of Elective Care which sets out a clear vision for how the NHS will recover and expand elective services over the next three years.

On 23 December 2021, the Department of Health and Social Care published ‘Our Vision for the Women’s Health Strategy for England’, which sets out ambitions to improve the health and wellbeing of women in England and reduce disparities. The Women’s Health Strategy will be published later this year.