If all the women waiting for a gynecology appointment on the NHS in Britain were to queue, they would stretch from London to Exeter.
This is according to a report from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (RCOG), which found that around 750,000 women in the four countries are waiting for an NHS appointment – a number that has more than doubled since February 2020, according to the BBC. And the actual number “could be significantly more”; these are only women who have already been referred by a GP.
Women are waiting for treatment for conditions ranging from “fibroids and endometriosis to incontinence and menopause care”, as well as urgent appointments if cancer is suspected. “Women are being left behind,” said Dr Ranee Thakar, president of the RCOG. Change is ‘urgently needed’.
Subscribe The week
Escape your echo chamber. Discover the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
Sign up for the free newsletters of the week
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News newsletter, get the best of the week straight to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News newsletter, get the best of the week straight to your inbox.
Why is the waiting list so long?
“Gynecology is the only elective that treats only women,” says Thakar. The disproportionately long waiting list reflects the “continued lack of priority given to women and women’s health”.
The reasons for this are “complex and multifaceted,” she told the i news site. But the problem predates the Covid-19 pandemic. The growth of gynecology waiting lists “has outpaced other specialties since April 2018”.
Women’s health has long been “undertreated and underresearched,” the news site said. Although one in three British women suffer from a gynecological health problem, less than 2.5% of government-funded research is dedicated to reproductive health.
“Apparently five times more research has been done on erectile dysfunction, which affects 19% of men, than on premenstrual syndrome, which affects 90% of women.”
This contributes to long diagnosis times and “poor treatment options,” Thakar said, leaving women “struggling” with symptoms that affect their health and quality of life. Every month, more patients are referred to gynecology services than are seen, leading to “a steady increase in waiting lists”.
According to analysis by the Nuffield Trust and the Health Foundation, waiting times have even tripled in the past decade. Between 2014 and 2024, the waiting list for gynecological care increased by 223%: “faster than the entire NHS waiting list,” according to The Telegraph.
What is the impact?
One woman told The Times she suffered “excruciating” non-stop pain and near-constant bleeding. She was diagnosed with endometriosis in 2020 and is still awaiting surgery.
More than three-quarters of women waiting for care reported a deterioration in mental health, Thakar wrote in The Guardian. More than two-thirds said they were “unable to participate in daily activities,” including work, socializing and caring responsibilities, due to severe pain or symptoms. Many experience exhaustion, dizziness, anemia and infections due to “worsening conditions.”
This “serious situation impacts the entire NHS”. A quarter of women surveyed for the report had been to A&E, many requiring ’emergency interventions’ – when they could have been treated on an outpatient basis had they been seen earlier. This costs the country “millions”.
Women’s absence from work due to health problems such as severe menstrual pain and ovarian cysts costs the economy almost £11 billion a year, according to a recent report from the NHS Confederation. Unemployment due to menopausal symptoms also costs around £1.5 billion a year.
For every additional pound invested in gynecological services per woman in England, there would be a return of around £11 to the economy, the report found. “That’s an extra £319 million in gross value added for the entire economy,” Thakar wrote, “simply by prioritizing women’s health.”
What can be done?
The NHS Confederation report recommended “reserved funding be allocated” to women’s healthcare to help close the “gender health gap at pace”.
It also recommended additional funding across the country, improved education and training for physicians on women’s health issues, and a women’s health ambassador focused on improving outcomes for Black, Asian and minority women, who be considerably worse.
The RCOG is also calling on Labor to deliver “an urgent support package for women” on the waiting list, according to The Times.
“Too many women are faced with unacceptable waiting times for gynecological treatment,” a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care told the newspaper.
Labor is “reviewing women’s healthcare”. A 10-year plan, backed by a £22.6 billion increase in daily healthcare spending, will reduce waiting times so women “get the support they need when they need it”.
