"Endometriosis wait times"

I had a ruptured cyst in Feb 2020. This was right before Covid hit so the lack of any follow up by the hospital or GP was slightly expected.  However, a year later I was still waiting to be seen by gynae and to get an official diagnosis.

I had emergency surgery in one health board and they did not pass on what happened to me to my usual GP and health board. It seems incredible in this day and age that these files are not shared and accessible by all health care boards across the country. Without this endometriosis diagnosis, I faced disciplinaries at work due to absence as a result of endometriosis.

My gynae referral kept being pushed back and back with no appointment date, until I refused to leave my GP surgery until I was given a date to see them. Up to that point I was told via phone appointments, because they were not doing face to face appointments, to take painkillers.  They then suggested I go on contraception, despite saying we wanted to start a family. In tears and begging to be seen by someone because I could not cope with the pain anymore, I was given an emergency referral where endo was finally diagnosed, although again initially I was just told by the GP they would sign me off with stress and give me antidepressants.

Once I was seen by gynae, I was then referred to the IVF clinic and also for a gynae follow up. This was May 2021.  While I have been in regular contact with the fertility and ACS unit since then and we are now at the top of the waiting list for IVF, gynae wait times have been dire. After the emergency appointment in May 2021, I was not seen again until Feb 2022 by which time my endometriosis had significantly worsened and my mental and physical health had taken a beating. I was only at this stage put on a surgical waitlist and have been advised it could take 18 months before I am seen.

Presently it is June 2022 and the surgery waitlist to remove my endometriosis has not even opened. Meanwhile we are ready to begin IVF but unless the endometriosis is removed it is likely the IVF will not be successful. We are now looking at using our house deposit to pay for private surgery to remove the endo so we can try IVF before it is too late and my fertility drops and my endo gets worse. It is so disappointing that there is such a misunderstanding on endometriosis and that gynae and ACS/IVF units are not working together.