Ms B?bhinn Nic Liam:

Endometriosis can be hard to pinpoint because the symptoms can be very varied and they do overlap with many other conditions. However, with a certain level of training, GPs should be able to differentiate, especially when the red flags of missing school, missing college, missing days at work or missing family occasions are raised. First, GPs are getting a lot more aware patients coming in the door, so there is that. Combined with some extra training to raise that awareness, I think there will be a shift. Of course, we do not want to have a blockage when they do refer people on.

On the Senator's question on the cross-border directive, CBD, it applies to the EU only. Great Britain is no longer part of the CBD, so people are funding that out of pocket, from credit union loans, from GoFundMe and so on. Even where the HSE does fund treatment in Europe under that scheme, it is upfront and it only covers the hospital treatment. Travel, accommodation and the need to have somebody else travel with the patient for safety reasons are not taken into consideration. As Mr. Donoghue said, it is inaccessible for so many.