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Through the actions set out in our Women’s Health Plan we have taken steps to support both women and health professionals to learn more about endometriosis, the symptoms and treatment options, so that waiting times for diagnosis can improve.

Endometriosis has two stages of diagnosis, a working diagnosis at primary care level and a confirmed diagnosis via laparoscopy at secondary care. Not everyone with endometriosis will want to have a laparoscopy to confirm their diagnosis, particularly if their symptoms can be well managed.

We want people to achieve a working diagnosis as soon as possible to enable swift access to appropriate care and treatment. That is why the for NHS Scotland is clear and advises healthcare professionals to suspect endometriosis in women who present with one or more endometriosis-like symptom (including in young women aged 16 and under).

We know that excessively long waits for laparoscopy are not acceptable, and we apologise to all patients waiting too long. We are determined to drive improvements in this area and continue to work closely with NHS boards on a number of actions which will see patients treated as quickly as possible.

As stated in question S6W-32172 more information on women’s health data can be found in the recently published . It sets out a range of publicly available data on the health of women in Scotland and highlights where there are gaps which need to be addressed. This is just the start of our work to improve women’s health data. Further work will be undertaken to explore the data sources and gaps in more detail.

The for NHS Scotland supports healthcare professionals to provide a holistic approach and timely care for those with endometriosis and endometriosis-like symptoms.

While there is no specific routine screening for Endometriosis, the pathway is clear and advises healthcare professionals to suspect endometriosis in women who present with one or more symptom (including in young women aged 16 and under).

Clinicians are advised to assess women’s individual information and support needs and take into account their circumstances, symptoms, priorities, priority for fertility, aspects of daily living, work and study, cultural background, and their physical, psychosexual and emotional needs.

All NHS Boards should be taking steps to implement the pathway.

Through the actions set out in our Women’s Health Plan we have taken steps to support both women and health professionals to learn more about endometriosis, the symptoms and treatment options to support earlier identification and minimise time to diagnosis.

The NHS Inform endometriosis page acknowledges the importance of emotional support and provides links to local peer-to-peer support groups.

There are also national helplines including 111, Breathing Space and The Samaritans.

In addition, we have also funded Endometriosis UK to produce a booklet and two webinars on self-management tips for managing endometriosis pain.

Endometriosis UK also operate a free, confidential run by trained volunteers who have a personal experience of endometriosis. Endometriosis UK have also expanded their helpline provision by launching a on 28 January 2025

Endometriosis is one of the key priorities in the Women’s Health Plan and will continue to be so. We are committed to ensuring those living with endometriosis are able to access the best possible care and support and that they benefit from healthcare services that are safe, effective and put people at the centre of their care.

Information about the progress to date against each of the priorities in the Women’s Health Plan can be found in the .

As we move into the next phase of the Women’s Health Plan, we will consider how best to monitor and evaluate progress over time, which includes engagement with women who have lived experience of endometriosis.

As set out in the Women’s Health Plan, we know that there is a lack of data on women’s health – including endometriosis. Improving data has been one of the key priorities of the first phase of the women’s health plan, to understand the data that are available, the gaps and how we might address them.

The recently published sets out a range of publicly available data on the health of women in Scotland and highlights where there are gaps which need to be addressed, including endometriosis. This is just the start of our work to improve women’s health data. Further work will be undertaken to explore the data sources and gaps in more detail.

We are committed to ensuring those living with endometriosis are able to access the best possible care and support and that they benefit from healthcare services that are safe, effective and put people at the centre of their care. Endometriosis will continue to be a priority as we develop the next phase of our Women’s Health Plan.

The Chief Scientist Office’s project and fellowship funding schemes continue to welcome applications from across the clinical spectrum, including in Endometriosis.

This funding source is well known across the women’s health research community. Applications looking at the diagnosis, treatment and management of Endometriosis are welcomed and (in common with all other applications) go through CSO’s rigorous independent expert review process to allow funding decisions to be made.

We have recently increased the number of research funding programmes run by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) open to researchers in Scotland from 4 to 9 and have worked to ensure researchers across Scotland are aware of these opportunities. Most of these programmes are open to research across the clinical spectrum, including in Endometriosis.

CSO continues to fund the NHS Research Scotland Reproductive Health and Childbirth Network which supports the delivery of a number of Endometriosis-related clinical studies across the NHS here.

This information is not collected. Collation of this information would require the gathering of personal data.

It is vitally important that all information on NHS Inform, including any linked websites, is open and accessible. All of the linked websites on NHS inform must be free to access without a need to login or register to ensure there are no barriers to access.

The Scottish Government does not asses the effectiveness of third sector initiatives which it does not fund.

Through the NHS Inform Women’s Health Platform, we have made a range of freely available to women online.

This includes signposting to peer support groups and organisations such as Endometriosis UK who operate a free, confidential run by trained volunteers who have a personal experience of endometriosis. This helpline is available for anyone in Scotland to access. In addition, Endometriosis UK have expanded their helpline provision to include a which launched on 28 January 2025.

There are also national helplines including 111, Breathing Space and The Samaritans.

Through the development of the next phase of the Women’s Health Plan we will continue to engage with women to understand what support they want and need, including for endometriosis.

Data on pain management outcomes for women with endometriosis is not held by Scottish Government.

Endometriosis is one of the key priorities in the Women’s Health Plan and will continue to be so. We are committed to ensuring those living with endometriosis are able to access the best possible care and support and that they benefit from healthcare services that are safe, effective and put people at the centre of their care.

We are committed to our ambition to improve the quality of life and wellbeing for people with chronic pain. The for the Scottish Government’s Pain Management Service Delivery Framework, published in November 2023, has 18 actions to improve care and support for people living with chronic pain.

In November 2024, we launched our national chronic pain knowledge hub and learning toolkit, available to all NHS Scotland Health and Care staff to deepen their understanding of chronic pain.

In addition, we have also funded Endometriosis UK to produce a booklet and two webinars on self-management tips for managing endometriosis pain.

Endometriosis UK also operate a free, confidential run by trained volunteers who have a personal experience of endometriosis and have expanded their helpline provision by launching a on 28 January 2025 providing further sources of support.

A campaign report evaluating the in Scotland was provided by Young Scot in April 2023 which measured young people’s engagement with the campaign.

High engagement was achieved across the campaign webpages through social media and paid marketing:

• 2.3 million impressions which is the number of times a user sees a piece of content, regardless of whether they interact with it;
• 56,000 social media engagements which represents number of people interacting with the social media accounts and content; and
• 84,000 video views which reflects the number of times the video content was watched.

With regard to ensuring menstrual health, including endometriosis is included in the school curriculum, I refer the member to the answer to questions S6W-30034, on 3 October 2024, and S6W-32189, on 23 December 2024. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at /chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

The , launched on 31 October 2023, is for NHS Scotland. There are 22 NHS Scotland Boards, who have all adopted this policy (each being separate employers). There are 124,032.8 whole time equivalent (WTE) female staff working across NHS Scotland and women represent 77.1% of the NHS Scotland workforce as of September 2024.