Endometriosis: Lack of care pathway and poor symptom recognition are hindering care, report warns

Patients with endometriosis are having their symptoms dismissed and investigations delayed because of a lack of awareness among healthcare professionals of the chronic condition and how it presents, a report has found.1

The National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death (NCEPOD) set out to determine the quality of care provided to adult patients with endometriosis by reviewing questionnaire responses from 623 clinicians, 167 hospitals, and 941 patients and looking at 309 sets of case notes.

The inquiry found that, unlike with other chronic conditions, there is no NHS care pathway for endometriosis. More than half (546) of the 941 patients surveyed said that they had to visit their GP several times before any investigations were …