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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.

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, desire 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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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 helpline run by trained volunteers who have a personal experience of endometriosis. Endometriosis UK have also expanded their helpline provision by launching a new nurse-led helpline 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.

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.

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.

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 updated Implementation Plan 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 helpline run by trained volunteers who have a personal experience of endometriosis and have expanded their helpline provision by launching a new nurse-led helpline on 28 January 2025 providing further sources of support.

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.