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Andrew Selous

South West Bedfordshire

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Endometriosis and Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS)

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I am deeply sympathetic to women who have endometriosis and PCOS, and the significant impact it has on their lives. I believe it is important to raise awareness of the impact on women not just here in the UK, but also worldwide and I welcome efforts to do so as part of Endometriosis Action Month each March.

To provide support, all obstetricians and gynaecologists have been trained in the diagnosis and treatment of these conditions and clinical guidelines on the diagnosis and management of endometriosis, and PCOS, have been published to assist doctors. I firmly believe these guidelines must be followed in clinical settings and education, and in primary care, so women know what to expect and doctors have the knowledge they need to support women.

I note the desire to see the NICE guideline on endometriosis updated and I understand that guidelines were amended in late 2021 recommending that women with endometriosis outside the pelvic cavity should be referred to a specialist endometriosis centre. The Government's Women's Health Strategy, published earlier this year, committed to updating guidance for female-specific health conditions like endometriosis to ensure the latest evidence and advice is being used in treatment. NHS England is updating the service specification for severe endometriosis in 2022-23.

I agree with ministers that it is unacceptable that the average diagnosis time for endometriosis is seven to eight years. It is imperative that we have a greater focus on women’s health to address issues like this and I warmly welcome the publication of the Government's Vision for Women's Health to tackle decades of health inequality. I was especially encouraged to see that gynaecological conditions, like endometriosis and PCOS, are a priority area in the Vision. 

The ambition is that every woman and girl will be able to access the right information, support and diagnosis for menstrual health and gynaecological conditions and ways to improve awareness of and care for those suffering symptoms of these conditions. I am pleased that the Government's Women's Health Strategy has outlined in more detail how the Government plans to deliver in these areas.

I also welcome the work of Endometriosis UK and Verity, the UK PCOS Charity, to raise awareness of these conditions, as well as providing sufferers with further information and access to clinical trials and the latest research. Medical Research is funded through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). In the last five financial years, I am encouraged to learn that the NIHR and UKRI have awarded £8.52 million for research into endometriosis and £6.60 million for research into PCOS. This includes a wide range of projects, from basic science through to applied health research into diagnosis, treatment and service delivery. It is important that women with these conditions play a vital role in this research. I am glad that funding is available for this important area of research and welcome the Minister for Patient Safety and Patient Care’s commitment to working to ensure that funding reaches the places it needs to. 

Moreover, NHS England has developed units for severe endometriosis, with the expectation that all units provide women with severe endometriosis with care which meets the needs of each individual woman. I believe it is essential that care of this kind is specialised to a woman’s unique needs, and I know that Ministers want to empower people to shape and manage their own health and care and make meaningful choices.

I am glad that women were invited to share experiences of gynaecological conditions, such as endometriosis and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), through the Women’s Health Strategy call for evidence and I know that issues around mental health were raised as part of this. The Vision for the Women’s Health Strategy described the Government’s aim to examine further the ways in which differential factors, including pre-existing mental or physical health conditions, may impact the likelihood of a woman developing a mental health condition, and the outcomes they experience. I look forward to learning more in due course.

I know that women might also have endometriosis elsewhere in the body, other than within the pelvic cavity. Feedback from topic experts, sought by NICE, explained that there is currently no evidence upon which to base recommendations on how to best diagnose and manage endometriosis outside the pelvis, including thoracic endometriosis. The experts explained that treatment in specialist centres may improve patient outcomes and facilitate evidence generation on how to manage endometriosis outside the pelvis. I am glad that, in December 2021, NICE made an editorial amendment to the guideline section on referral for women with suspected or confirmed endometriosis to highlight that women with endometriosis outside the pelvic cavity should be referred to a specialist endometriosis centre. While I note the desire to see changes to the NICE guideline around thoracic endometriosis, I understand that NICE has said that while they do not expect to make further changes, the issue has been added to the issue log for the guideline for consideration in future surveillance, once more evidence is available.

Finally, I am not a great signer of Early Day Motions and do not regard them as an effective way of bringing about change.

Campaign Responses

  • Access to Eye Care
  • Access to Mental Health Support and Services
  • Access to Nature
  • Access to Playgrounds (Disabled Children)
  • Access to Waterways
  • Adult Dependant Relative Visa
  • Adult Social Care
  • Affordability of Transport
  • Afghanistan and Pakistan
  • Afghanistan: Nowzad
  • Afghanistan Refugees
  • Afghanistan Refugees (Christians)
  • Afghanistan Withdrawal
  • Air Passenger Duty
  • Air Quality
  • AL Amyloidosis
  • Alcohol Duty
  • All-Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs)
  • American XL Bully Dogs
  • Animal Cruelty
  • Animal in Science Regulation Unit
  • Animal Research
  • Animal Testing – Cosmetics
  • Animal Testing - Labelling
  • Animal Welfare
  • Animal Welfare (RSPCA)
  • Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill
  • Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill
  • Animal Welfare Standards and Tourism
  • Anti-Migrant Protests
  • Arms Exports
  • Arms Exports: Israel
  • Arthritis
  • Artificial Intelligence (Education)
  • Arts Council England
  • ASRU Change Programme
  • Assisted Suicide
  • Asylum Seekers and Refugee Resettlement
  • Asylum Support and Employment
  • Audio Visual Information on Buses
  • Autistic People's Experiences of Education
  • Avian Influenza
  • Aviation Emissions
  • Aviation Industry Concerns
  • Bank 'Windfall Tax'
  • BBC Funding
  • BBC World Service
  • Behaviour in Schools
  • Biodiversity
  • Biomass
  • Bite Back Better Campaign
  • Blood Cancer (Leukaemia)
  • Bomb Disposal and Whales
  • Bovine Tuberculosis
  • Bowel Cancer Awareness Month
  • Boycotts by Public Institutions
  • Brachycephalic Animals
  • Brain Tumours
  • Breast Cancer
  • British Sign Language Classes for Families with Deaf Children
  • Building Safety Bill
  • Bus Deregulation
  • Business and Human Rights
  • Caged Farm Animals
  • Campaign - #CatchUpWithCancer
  • Canals
  • Cancer Research
  • Cancer Treatment
  • Carer’s Leave
  • Cash Availability and Acceptance
  • Chalk Streams
  • Child Deaths Worldwide
  • Child Maintenance Service (CMS)’s Collect and Pay Service
  • Child Poverty
  • Childhood Cancer Outcomes
  • Children Affected by Humanitarian Crises
  • Children with Sight Loss (Education)
  • China (Official Development Assistance)
  • Commercial Energy Prices
  • Commissioner for Older People
  • Community Energy
  • Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership
  • Compulsory Solar Power for New Builds
  • Consular Services in Afghanistan
  • Conversion Therapy Bill
  • Co-operatives, Mutuals and Friendly Societies Bill
  • COP27 (Climate-Related Loss and Damage)
  • Cost of Living (University Students)
  • Council Investment Decisions
  • Counselling Notes
  • Courier Employment Rights
  • 'Credit their Service' Campaign
  • Cropping of Dogs’ Ears
  • Cycling and Walking
  • Cyprus
  • Dangerous Dogs Act
  • Deaths Related to the Benefits System
  • Debt and the Cost of Living
  • Debt Relief for Lower Income Countries
  • Deep Sea Mining
  • Defibrillators and the Automated External Defibrillators (Public Access) Bill
  • Dementia Research and Diagnosis
  • Democratic Freedoms in the UK
  • Deportation Flights
  • Deposit Return Systems
  • Derby County Football Club
  • Diabetes
  • Disability Benefit Assessments
  • Disabled People and the Cost of Living
  • Dog Fighting
  • Domestic Abuse (Serial Abusers & Stalkers)
  • Domestic Abuse (Time Limits)
  • Drink and Needle Spiking
  • Early Years Funding
  • Ecology Bill
  • Economic Activity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill - EDM 1415
  • Education for Deaf Children
  • Education and Development Globally
  • Elections Act
  • Elections Act - Blind and Partially Sighted Voters
  • Elections Act - Electoral Commission
  • Elections Act - First Past the Post
  • Elections Act - Joint Campaigning
  • Electric Scooter Trial Concerns
  • Electronic Collars
  • Electronic Communications Code
  • Elephants and Ivory Sales
  • Eligibility for Free School Meals Under Universal Credit
  • Emissions Trading Scheme
  • Ending Homelessness (Shelter Campaign)
  • Endometriosis and Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS)
  • Energy Bill
  • Energy Bills for Families with Disabled Children
  • Energy Charter Treaty
  • Energy Efficiency
  • Energy Price Cap
  • Energy Security Strategy
  • Environmental Land Management Schemes
  • Epilepsy
  • Epilepsy: Personal Independence Payment (PIP)
  • Equality Act 2010 (Biological Sex Matters Campaign)
  • Ethical Research
  • EveryDoctor’s #ReviveTheNHS Campaign
  • Exempt Accommodation
  • Experiments on Animals and the Use of Fur for Bearskin Caps
  • Fair Fuel APPG
  • Farmed Fish
  • Federated Data Platform (Palantir)
  • Fertility Inequality
  • Financial Services and Markets Bill
  • Fire and Rehire Tactics
  • Fireworks
  • Fireworks (Animals)
  • Football Governance
  • Football Index
  • Fraudulent Reviews of Businesses
  • Free Bus Travel Scheme
  • Free School Meals to All Children in Educational Settings
  • Free Speech
  • Free Trade Agreement with Australia
  • Frequent Flyer Levy
  • Fuel Poverty
  • Funding for Fire and Rescue Services
  • Funding for Transport for London
  • Fur Trade
  • Future of the TV Licence
  • Gas Boilers
  • Gaza
  • Gender Recognition Act 2004
  • Gene Editing and Animal Welfare
  • Genetic Technology
  • Global Food Security
  • Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria
  • Glue Traps
  • Good Law Project & Runnymede: Mike Coupe & Dido Harding
  • Government Contracts
  • Green Alternatives to Gas Boilers
  • Green Finance
  • Green Investment - 2021 Spending Review
  • Green New Deal
  • Group B Streptococcus
  • Guide Dogs
  • Hamas
  • Hate Crime (Misogyny)
  • Health and Care Bill
  • Health and Care Bill: Privatisation
  • Health and Care Bill: Workforce
  • Health and Care for Older People
  • Health and Disability Green Paper
  • Health Impacts of the Climate Crisis
  • Heat Pumps
  • Hedgehogs
  • Hedgerows
  • HGV Driver Shortage
  • High Street Rental Auctions
  • Historic Landscapes
  • Homelessness
  • Holiday Lets
  • Hospices and the Cost of Energy
  • Housing and the Queen’s Speech
  • Housing Emergency (Shelter)
  • Housing First
  • HS2 and the Environment
  • HS2: Cost Transparency
  • HS2: General
  • Human Rights Act
  • Human Rights in Bahrain
  • Humanitarian Situation in East Africa
  • Hunger and Conflict
  • Hunting Act 2004
  • Identity Verification
  • Illegal Migration Bill
  • Improving Access to the Countryside
  • Income Tax and the State Pension
  • Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review
  • Independent Review of Children's Social Care
  • Independent Sector Providers and the NHS
  • India Trade Deal
  • Integrated Care Boards and Private Sector Providers
  • Intellectual Property
  • Interest on Student Loans
  • International Climate Finance
  • International Treaty for Pandemic Preparedness
  • Introducing Extended Producer Responsibility: Glass
  • Iran: Human Rights
  • Islamophobia
  • Israel: Amnesty International
  • Ivory Sales
  • Jagtar Singh Johal
  • Jerusalem
  • Jim Fitton
  • Judicial Review
  • Julian Assange
  • Junk Food Advertising Ban
  • Keeping Primates as Pets
  • Kinship Carers
  • Labelling Reforms for Animal Welfare
  • Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill (Childcare as Infrastructure)
  • Light Pollution
  • Live Animal Exports
  • Liver Disease
  • Living Wage and Key Workers
  • Loan Charge
  • Loans to Developing Countries
  • Local Government Spending Power
  • Local Housing Allowance
  • Long COVID
  • March of the Mummies Protest
  • Maternity Services
  • Meadows and Grasslands
  • Medicinal Cannabis
  • Menopause
  • Mental Health
  • Mental Health (Children and Young People)
  • Mental Health Emergency Helpline
  • Mental Health Support for NHS Staff
  • Midwifery Units
  • Migrant Channel Crossings
  • Mileage Rates
  • Military Courts in Israel
  • Military Exports to Saudi Arabia
  • Modern Employment Practices
  • Modern Slavery
  • Motor Neurone Disease
  • Multiple Sclerosis
  • National Air Pollution Control Programme
  • National Care Service
  • National Insurance Contributions
  • National Security
  • National Security Bill (Torture and Unlawful Killing)
  • Nationality and Borders Act (Accommodation for Asylum Seekers)
  • Nationality and Borders Act (Clause 9)
  • Nationality and Borders Act (Clause 11)
  • Nationality and Borders Act (Overseas Asylum Processing)
  • Nationality and Borders Act (Unaccompanied Children)
  • Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe
  • Neglected Tropical Diseases
  • Neonicotinoids
  • Neurological Conditions
  • New Plan for Immigration
  • NHS Digital and the Handling of Patient Data
  • Nigeria: Mubarak Bala
  • Non-Religious Belief (Human Rights)
  • Ocean Protection
  • Offshore Wind
  • Oil Drilling and Cambo Oil Field
  • Oil Licenses
  • Online Gambling
  • Online Marketplaces (Regulation)
  • Online Safety Bill (Internet Regulation)
  • Online Safety Bill (Misinformation)
  • Online Safety Bill (Online Child Sexual Abuse)
  • Online Safety Bill (Pornography)
  • Online Safety Bill (Private Communications)
  • Online Safety Bill (Protecting Children from Online Porn)
  • Online Safety Bill (Suicide and Self-Harm)
  • Online Safety Bill (Women and Girls)
  • Online Scams and Fraud
  • Onshore Wind
  • Onshore Wind (Planning)
  • Pakistan (Human Rights)
  • Palestinian Human Right Defenders
  • Palestinian Political Prisoners
  • Palliative Care
  • Pancreatic Cancer
  • Parental Bereavement
  • Parental Leave
  • Park Homes
  • Parkinson's Disease
  • Pavement Parking
  • Peat
  • Pension Credit
  • Persecution of Christians in Nigeria and the Universal Periodic Review
  • Pet Microchipping
  • Pet Smuggling: Cats
  • Pet Theft
  • Pharmacy
  • Pig Welfare
  • Plant Based Treaty
  • Plastic Pollution
  • Police and Sarah Everard Case
  • Polluter Pays Bill
  • Prescription Charges
  • Primary School Assessments
  • Prisons (Violence) Bill
  • Privacy Laws in the UK
  • Private Jets
  • Private Rented Sector
  • Procurement Bill
  • Proportional Property Tax
  • Prostate Cancer
  • Protection of Pollinators
  • Protections for Nature
  • Protests - Abortion Clinics
  • Public Inquiry on COVID-19
  • Public Order Bill
  • Public Order Bill and Bill of Rights
  • Public Sector Pensions
  • Public Service Pensions and Judicial Offices Bill
  • Puppy and Kitten Sales
  • Queen's Speech - Bill of Rights and Brexit Freedoms
  • Racing Greyhounds
  • Radiotherapy
  • Rail Vs Air Travel
  • Recovery of the Hospitality Sector
  • Reforming Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Licensing
  • Reforming the Private Rented Sector
  • Regulation of Vaping
  • Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill
  • Right to Protest (Public Order Act, Minimum Service Levels and Boycotts)
  • Right to Work Checks
  • Royal Mail
  • Sarcoma UK Drop-In Session
  • School Food
  • School Uniform
  • Scope Campaign
  • Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988
  • Security Situation in the West Bank
  • Sentencing (Dangerous Driving)
  • Sexual Harassment
  • Shared Parental Leave
  • Smoking
  • Snares
  • Social Care Cap (Means Test)
  • Social Care for Younger Adults
  • Spinal Cord Injury
  • Stamp Duty Land Tax
  • Standing Charges
  • Statutory Sick Pay
  • Stop and Search
  • Storm Overflows
  • Strikes
  • Student Doctors - Bursaries
  • Sudan
  • Support for Carers and Unpaid Carers
  • Support for Children and Young People Living with Cancer
  • Support for People Who Received Infected Blood
  • Support for People with Disabilities
  • Support for People Affected by Stroke
  • Support for Road Hauliers
  • Surrogacy
  • Sustainable Fashion
  • Sustainable Fishing in British Waters
  • Tax Avoidance
  • Teachers' Pay
  • Temporary Emergency Accommodation
  • Terminal Illness and Benefits
  • Terrorist Extremism
  • Ticket Offices at Railway Stations
  • Tourism and VAT
  • Transport Emissions and Air Quality
  • Transport for Disabled People
  • Trees and Woodlands
  • Triple Lock
  • Trophy Hunting
  • Trussell Trust Campaign: Food Bank Usage
  • UK Foreign Aid
  • UK Trade and Business Commission’s First Annual Report
  • UK’s 2050 Net Zero Emissions Target
  • UK's Relations with China
  • Ultra Low Emission Zone
  • UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Sixth Assessment Report on Climate Change
  • Unaccompanied Child Migrants in the UK
  • Universal Credit
  • Universities: Antisemitism (IHRA Definition)
  • Uplands
  • Vaccination of Children Around the World
  • Valerie's Law
  • Vaping
  • Vaping (Environment)
  • VAT and Energy Bills
  • VAT on Electric Vehicle Charging in Public Places
  • Violence Against Women and Girls
  • Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing and Access
  • Voter ID
  • Voter ID (Student ID)
  • Voting System
  • Wages for Apprenticeships
  • Warm This Winter Campaign
  • Water Fluoridation
  • Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in Developing Countries
  • Wealth Taxes
  • Windsor Framework
  • Winter Fuel Payment
  • Women’s Health Strategy - Miscarriages
  • Worker Protection Bill
  • Young People’s Wellbeing
  • Youth Homelessness

Andrew Selous MP South West Bedfordshire

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