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The Endometriosis Care Pathway for NHS Scotland supports healthcare professionals, including those in primary care, to provide a holistic approach and timely care for those with endometriosis and endometriosis-like symptoms. The pathway 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) NHS Boards should be taking steps to implement the pathway.

To support health care professionals to improve their knowledge and understanding of endometriosis NHS Education for Scotland (NES) has launched an e-learning module on menstrual health available on Turas Learn. It is open access to anyone working in NHS Scotland and is in particular aimed at those working in primary care.

Further training resources have also been provided through the Women’s Health Masterclass on endometriosis which provided information on diagnosis, treatment and current research on endometriosis, raising awareness of the Pathway with attendees. The resources from this event are also available on Turas Learn.

Additionally, we are have funded the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) to develop new training resources on endometriosis for members, which will be available in the coming months.

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 information on endometriosis freely available to women online.

This includes signposting to peer support groups and organisations such as Endometriosis UK who operate a free, confidential helpline 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 new nurse-led helpline 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.

We are continuing work to improve the data we have on women’s health so that we can better understand the health of women and girls in Scotland – including endometriosis.

Information on women’s health data in Scotland can be found in the recently published Women’s Health Plan Data Landscape Review. It sets out the range of publicly available data on the health of women in Scotland and highlights where there appear to be gaps. Further work will be undertaken to explore data sources and gaps in more detail.

The endometriosis care pathway for NHS Scotland aims to support healthcare professionals to provide holistic and timely care for those with endometriosis and endometriosis-like symptoms. All NHS Boards should be taking steps to implement the pathway.

As set out in the Pathway, clinicians should consider women’s individual needs in order to determine treatment for example symptoms, aspects of daily living and whether fertility is a priority for that individual.

Data regarding post-diagnosis referral to fertility services is not held by the Scottish Government.

As set out in the Endometriosis Care Pathway for NHS Scotland, clinicians should consider women’s individual needs in order to determine treatment, for example symptoms, aspects of daily living and whether fertility is a priority for that individual. The Pathway notes that discussions regarding fertility should happen in the first presentation and that management and long-term impact including fertility should be discussed during initial assessment.

The Scottish Government is providing investment of over £19.5 billion for health and social care in 2024-25 and supporting delivery of the specific actions relating to women’s health as we continue to drive forward the implementation of the Plan.

The Scottish Government provides this baseline funding to NHS Boards, to best meet the healthcare needs of their population, including for women with endometriosis.

Endometriosis is one of the key priorities in the Women’s Health Plan and will continue to be so. Through the implementation of the Women’s Health Plan we have established Women’s Health Lead Network with a Lead in every NHS Board. The Network enables the Leads to identify both common and local challenges and exchange ideas on innovation and best practice, along with discussions on progress to implement the Women’s Health Plan priorities at local level.

NHS 24 use qualitative and quantitative data to evaluate, review and optimise NHS inform content. This includes, for example:

• analysis of user activity on their website
• user feedback
• user research
• user testing
• partner and community engagement feedback
• 111 call trends

NHS 24 conduct regular audits and reviews to ensure accuracy, relevance and clarity of content.

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.

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 Scottish Researchers to be able to access further NIHR research funding – Chief Scientist Officeand 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 hereStudy Portfolio | NHS Research Scotland | NHS Research Scotland.

As stated in question S6W-32172 more information on women’s health data can be found in the recently published data landscape review. 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 Endometriosis Care Pathway 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.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on the number of NHS health professionals using the NHS Education for Scotland Menstrual Health Symptom Questionnaire in patient consultations.

As part of the implementation of the Women’s Health Plan, an NHS Education for Scotland Menstrual Health module educational resource has been developed and is free to access for anyone working in the NHS in Scotland via Turas Learn. The module includes a link to the questionnaire and guides the learner on how it can be used. We continue to work with NHS Education for Scotland to promote this training module among health professionals.

The questionnaire is also freely available to both patients and healthcare professionals through the NHS Inform menstrual health resource.