Medical Misogyny in the NHS: Women Have Been Waiting Too Long for Answers
On 14 April 2026, Health Secretary Wes Streeting relaunched the government's Women's Health Strategy for England, describing an NHS that has long been failing women. His language was unambiguous. He described a culture of medical misogyny, both conscious and unconscious, within a system that has too often treated women's pain as an inconvenience and their symptoms as an overreaction.
The renewed strategy includes several significant commitments. Gynaecological care pathways are to be redesigned to reduce long waits for conditions such as endometriosis and fibroids. Women will be given improved access to pain relief during invasive procedures such as coil fittings and hysteroscopies. A new pilot programme will link patient feedback directly to NHS provider funding, giving women a financial lever to hold providers to account.
These are welcome developments. However, for the many women who have already spent years waiting for answers, the conversation about what needs to change is not new.
Women Have Always Deserved Better Than This
Mr Nicholas Morris, Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist and founder of Rapid Access Gynaecology, has spent over 30 years doing what the Health Secretary is now asking the NHS to do. He welcomes the acknowledgement, but for Mr Morris, putting women's pain at the centre of care has never been a policy position. It has always been a personal and professional commitment.
With a particular clinical interest in endometriosis and pelvic pain, Mr Morris has dedicated a significant part of his career to reaching women who have been failed by the system before they ever arrived at his door. He has seen, time and again, the consequences of what happens when a woman's symptoms are dismissed, minimised, or simply not taken seriously enough to investigate properly.
The data reflects what he has witnessed in practice. According to a recent Endometriosis UK survey, women in the UK wait an average of nine years and four months for an endometriosis diagnosis, a figure that has risen since 2020. A report published by Mumsnet in March 2026 found that 64% of women had been told their pain was normal or in their head, and 68% believed the NHS does not take women's health issues seriously. For Mr Morris, those figures represent not statistics, but individual women whose suffering could have been addressed far sooner, with the right specialist in their corner.
A Faster Path to Diagnosis for Endometriosis
Rapid Access Gynaecology now offers the EndoSure test, a non-invasive diagnostic tool for endometriosis with a 98% sensitivity for correct diagnosis. The test takes approximately 30 to 40 minutes, involves no surgery or needles, and results are returned the same day. For women who have spent years waiting for clarity, this represents a genuinely different approach to getting answers.
Appointments are available within 24 to 48 hours. To find out more, contact the team on 020 8371 1510 or email secretary@rapidaccessgynaecology.co.uk.