Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the availability of treatment for patients with adenomyosis in Slough constituency.

In Slough, there is a local gynaecological pathway for systematic management of women with heavy menstrual bleeding and a community gynaecology advice and guidance service to which general practitioners can refer patients.

Guidance about how to manage adenomyosis is usually embedded in symptom-focused pathways, for example, heavy menstrual bleeding or dysmenorrhoea, rather than guidance specific to adenomyosis. The Thames Valley Integrated Care Board follows the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) guidance. NICE addresses adenomyosis primarily within their guideline on Heavy Menstrual Bleeding, reference code NG88, and specific interventional procedures guidance. NG88 also identifies the long-term outcomes of pharmacological or uterine-sparing treatments for heavy menstrual bleeding associated with adenomyosis as a research priority evidence gap.

The Renewed Women’s Health Strategy, published in April, commits to the redesign of clinical pathways for heavy periods and pelvic pain to reduce repeat appointments, unnecessary referrals, and long waits. Women with adenomyosis will benefit from single points of access for gynaecology referrals and a shift away from hospital only care towards neighbourhood and community settings.

The Renewed Women’s Health strategy additionally announced a new programme to improve education for girls about their menstrual health, investing an additional £1 million from this year to support targeted work in schools and community settings to support girls’ knowledge about menstrual health and when to seek healthcare. This is an important factor in delays in diagnosis and treatment for adenomyosis.

We are also introducing an “online hospital”, NHS Online. From 2027, people across England on certain pathways, including those with menstrual problems that may be a sign of adenomyosis, will have the choice of getting the specialist care they need from their home. NHS Online will help to reduce patient waiting times, delivering the equivalent of up to 8.5 million appointments and assessments in its first three years.