Avonmouth<\/a> woman Amy Parker, who has endured the nightmare of endometriosis since she was a teenager, described the announcement as amazing news for women in her situation.<\/p>\n\u201cIt is the best news endometriosis sufferers have received in terms of getting help under the NHS,\u201d she said. \u201cGiving women easy access to understand more (about their condition) and get help quicker is essential as this could seriously help people from suffering longer while their condition progresses.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Amy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768142350_78_2_AMR_060126_EndometriosisUpdate.jpg\")
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Amy Parker, 28, had to wait for nearly fifteen years to be formally diagnosed with endometriosis(Image: Amy Parker)<\/p>\n
Endometriosis is a condition where cells similar to the ones in the lining of the womb appear elsewhere in the body. These cells can grow and change in response to hormones in the menstrual cycle which can cause inflammation, pain and scar tissue and in some cases infertility.<\/p>\n
The condition affects roughly one in ten women in the UK between the start of puberty and the menopause, which equates to over 1.5 million people.<\/p>\n
Like many women, Ms Parker faced a prolonged wait to even be diagnosed with endometriosis. Despite experiencing severe pain for the first time at the age of 14, the 28-year-old was only formally diagnosed last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cReducing waiting times is severely overdue and this comes as a huge relief to women all over England who are suffering unnecessarily,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cReducing waiting times is of utmost importance as endometriosis can grow and spread with time. This will help with endometriosis sufferers\u2019 mental health which suffers massively during the current long waiting times.\u201d<\/p>\n
The NHS\u2019s so-called online hospital, which was first announced in September, will allow patients to have assessments, check-ups and follow-up appointments online. When the system is live, people will still be able to opt for face-to-face appointments instead; the aim of the virtual service is to speed up access to healthcare and reduce waiting times for in-person appointments.<\/p>\n
Menstrual problems are one of nine conditions that will be prioritised when the service launches. The others are: glaucoma, conditions affecting the retina at the back of the eye (including age-related macular degeneration), cataracts, inflammatory bowel disease, iron deficiency anaemia, prostate enlargement, raised PSA \u2013 prostate specific antigen \u2013 levels (not cancer diagnoses) and menopause.<\/p>\n
Emma Cox, chief executive of charity Endometriosis UK, said the inclusion of menstrual problems on the priority list was an significant moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cEndometriosis UK welcomes NHS England\u2019s decision to prioritise menstrual health, including endometriosis, in the new NHS Online hospital,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor too long, those with endometriosis have faced unacceptably long waits and uneven access to specialist care. This new initiative has the potential to be a real step forward if it delivers faster diagnosis, quicker access to specialists, and genuine patient choice.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe look forward to working with NHS England to ensure the NHS Online Hospital delivers meaningful, long-term improvements for everyone affected by endometriosis and other menstrual health conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Women suffering from the condition will be given priority in a new system to launch next year 05:00,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":364571,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[97265,102,2960,104,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-364570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-avonmouth","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-nhs","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=364570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364570\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/364571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=364570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=364570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=364570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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