PORTSMOUTH — Rachel Moore, a 37-year-old from Portsmouth in Hampshire, underwent a private hysterectomy after being told she faced a wait of nearly a year to see an NHS gynecologist. Moore was diagnosed last year with adenomyosis, a condition in which endometrial-like tissue grows into the muscular wall of the uterus, causing it to thicken and enlarge.

Common symptoms of adenomyosis include heavy, prolonged menstrual bleeding, chronic pelvic pain, and infertility. Moore had spent years in chronic pain before her diagnosis.

"I had a lot of pain with periods, I was back and forth to the doctor. I was put on lots of different contraception, that didn't really do anything to help." she said. She also described the impact on her daily life: "I was well for four days out of every month, it ruined my life."

Moore said repeated visits to her GP left her convinced she was imagining her own pain. "I just felt like I wasn't being listened to. I was being fobbed off. I wanted to be heard and I didn't feel like I was getting that at all." After the referral and the lengthy wait, she said she felt she had no option but to pay for surgery privately. Her GP practice apologized for the difficulties she experienced and said her feedback would be investigated thoroughly.

Women with adenomyosis often encounter difficulties obtaining diagnosis and treatment because there are no specific NICE guidelines for the condition. Current wider guidelines primarily cover fibroids, endometriosis, and heavy menstrual bleeding.

Tanya Simon-Hall, a women's health campaigner who runs the support group The Adeno Gang, pointed to regional inconsistencies in care. "Due to the lack of NICE guidelines a woman in Berkshire can get different advice and treatment from her doctor than a woman in Hampshire," she said.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting addressed the treatment of women in the health system. "Some women have been made to feel like second class citizens with their pain treated as an inconvenience and their symptoms as an overreaction," Streeting said. He said he wants NHS waiting list numbers for women to fall more quickly and access to women's health services to improve. "Among the new measures announced by the government is a new 'patient power payment' scheme," he said.