National endometriosis plan sees no real increase in take-up of treatments

Chiemeka Chinaka, a researcher with UQ’s School of Economics, working with Professor Brenda Gannon and Professor Jenny Doust, investigated whether the National Action Plan for Endometriosis (NAPE), had a noticeable impact on the uptake of two specific endometriosis treatments.

NAPE, introduced by the Federal Government in 2018, was developed to increase public awareness of endometriosis, provide funding for research, create partnerships between government, experts and advocacy groups, and improve treatment options.

“People are presenting with endometriosis and it is taking years for them to receive a diagnosis,” Mr Chinaka said.

“Part of NAPE was to establish more specialised clinics with practitioners that have better specific knowledge of endometriosis interventions.

“Clinics began operating in March 2023, with the federal government announcing funding for more clinics in February of 2025.

“But it also aimed to create awareness on the other side – so patients coming in were more aware of what help is out there and available to them.”

The research looked at the uptake of two endometriosis treatments – the pain relief medication nafarelin and a surgical procedure called laparoscopic resection – both before and after the introduction of NAPE.

Mr Chinaka used data from January 2012 to December 2023 to map the use of both interventions, finding that there was an immediate spike in the use of nafarelin soon after the introduction of NAPE that then quickly dissipated.

He said an analysis of Medicare claims for laparoscopic resections performed in private hospitals showed there was no obvious change to the uptake of the procedure.

“Some of these plans take a long time to trickle down to have the effect that you want in terms of more diagnoses and more treatments,” Mr Chinaka said.

“It might be that it is slowly building towards improvement but the effect so far has been very, very modest at best.”

According to recent government data, the average woman experiences delays of 6-8 years between the onset of symptoms and a diagnosis of endometriosis, while 7 per cent of patients wait more than a year for surgery in the public system.

Mr Chinaka said it was unlikely a large increase in women receiving laparoscopic resections would occur until public hospital waiting times improved.

“The waiting time for something like a laparoscopic resection is so long it means a huge number of endometriosis patients have to go through the private system, which creates another barrier for them,” Mr Chinaka said.

“It is easy to say when reviewing government policy that we need more, but people with endometriosis do need targeted strategies, specialised clinics and specialists who are well-funded to reduce the burden of out-of-pocket costs.”

The research was conducted from UQ’s School of Economics, funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council Centre of Research Excellence on Women and Non-Communicable Diseases, and published in the Australian Health Review.