Hansard

I congratulate Rachael Hamilton on securing this important debate and pay tribute to the women and girls across Scotland who suffer from endometriosis, many of whom will be awaiting a diagnosis and are not yet aware that what they are feeling is a condition that they should be diagnosed with and treated for.

We are all grateful to Endometriosis UK for its research and campaigning and to support groups. I commend the quite formidable endo warriors whom I have known for their indomitable spirit over the years—they even persuaded me to join one of their marches through Glasgow. It is vital to continue to raise awareness and to drive through the changes that we want to see.

Five years ago, I led the previous dedicated endometriosis debate, during which many—primarily male—contributors admitted that they had no prior knowledge of the widespread but little-known disease of endometriosis. However, it is 21 years since Annabel Goldie first raised the important matter in Parliament. Now that Elaine Smith has retired, I am the last remaining member who spoke in that debate more than two decades ago. The make-up of the chamber has changed beyond recognition, but can we say that the treatment of endometriosis sufferers has also changed? Every endo warrior, clinician or even MSP will agree that the answer to that is, “Possibly, but at a glacial pace.”

The purpose of my debate was to press the Scottish Government to establish a third accredited endometriosis unit in Scotland. Following much post-debate discussion and deliberation, that unit was established in Glasgow three years ago with the necessary specialist staff to serve the women of the west of Scotland, following the early development of units based in Aberdeen and Edinburgh. I thank Aileen Campbell and Jeane Freeman for all their hard work and tenacity in taking that forward. However, more units, from Inverness to Ayrshire to Dumfries, are, of course, essential.

The opening of the new unit was followed by the Scottish Government’s women’s health plan, which was a UK first and which aims to reduce the average length of time that it takes for an endometriosis diagnosis from an often fraught, painful and drawn-out average of eight and a half years. Much work is required to cut that to under a year by the end of the current parliamentary session. The Scottish Government was right to have set such an ambitious target, based on clinical feasibility. We now look forward to a more detailed description of exactly what steps will be taken and when. I know that we will receive more detail in June, when more significant headway will have been made in gathering information. I hope that we will also hear about progress in the ministerial response today.

Information is crucial, and I know that many colleagues will agree that communication is a hugely important factor to constituents who suffer with endometriosis. That is why we must normalise talking about endo, collect accurate and relevant data, publicise what we have and communicate better.

Currently, a search for “endometriosis” on the Public Health Scotland website returns zero results. In trying to find the menstrual wellbeing toolkit on the Royal College of General Practitioners website, I found that the page was not working. Those basics must be fixed if we want endometriosis patients to know that they are valued and are being taken seriously.

I know a number of women with endometriosis. From what I understand from them, endometriosis is much more than physically painful. As we heard from Emma Roddick, it is mentally draining for a woman to feel that she has to tell her story over and over again, as if she is being doubted. Losing focus at work because of the constant pain, frustration and uncertainty and the general quest for answers is exhausting.