It is unacceptable that women can wait so long for an endometriosis and adenomyosis diagnosis and we are committed to improving waiting times for diagnosis and treatment so patients can get the care they need sooner. We are committed to returning by March 2029 to the NHS constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment, including for gynaecology.

In England, the waiting list for gynaecology care stood at just over 560,000 as of March 2026 and gynaecology waits are down by over 35,000 since the 2024 General Election.

Our Elective Reform Plan, published in January 2025, sets out reforms we are making to improve gynaecology waiting times across England. This includes innovative models of care that offer care closer to home and in the community, piloting gynaecology pathways in community diagnostic centres for patients with post-menopausal bleeding, and increasing the relative funding available to incentivise providers to take on more gynaecology procedures.

We are also introducing an “online hospital”, NHS Online. From 2027, people on certain pathways, including menstrual problems that may be a sign of endometriosis or adenomyosis, will have the choice of getting the specialist care they need from their home. NHS Online will help to reduce patient waiting times, delivering the equivalent of up to 8.5 million appointments and assessments in its first three years.

The Renewed Women’s Health Strategy also commits to speeding up diagnosis and access to treatment for conditions including endometriosis. The strategy announces a new programme to improve education for girls about their menstrual health, investing an additional £1 million from this year to support targeted work in schools and community settings to support girls’ knowledge about menstrual health and when to seek healthcare. This is an important factor to delays in diagnosis and treatment for endometriosis and adenomyosis.

Clinical pathways for heavy periods and pelvic pain, including endometriosis, will be redesigned to reduce repeat appointments, unnecessary referrals and long waits. Women with endometriosis will benefit from single points of access for gynaecology referrals and a shift away from hospital only care towards neighbourhood and community settings.

As part of the merging of the Department and NHS England, colleagues from both organisations have established a joint team to develop the Modern Service Framework for Frailty and Dementia. The framework will seek to reduce unwarranted variation and narrow inequality for those living with dementia, including those living with primary progressive aphasia. It will set national standards for dementia care and redirect National Health Service priorities to provide the best possible care and support.

The Frailty & Dementia Modern Service Framework Task and Finish Group is an advisory body to offer insight and guidance. The first meeting took place on 25 March 2026 and these meetings occur monthly. The group is co-chaired by:

• Dr Jeremy Isaacs, Consultant Neurologist at St George’s and Kingston Hospitals and National Clinical Director for Dementia and Older People’s Mental Health at NHS England;
• Sarah McClinton, Chief Social Worker for Adults and Mental Health Social Work lead in the Department; and
• Professor Jugdeep Dhesi, Consultant Geriatrician at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, Professor of Geriatric Medicine at Kings College London and President of the British Geriatrics Society.

The commissioning of services for Tourette’s syndrome is the responsibility of local integrated care boards (ICBs), which have a legal duty to plan comprehensive health services for their populations, including for conditions like Tourette’s. While Somerset NHS Foundation Trust has not been directly approached to promote these e-learning modules, it would welcome reviewing the content and, if appropriate, would be happy to share more widely.

Cutting waiting lists is a key priority for the Government, including for neurology services. Between September 2024 and September 2025, the number of incomplete neurology pathways was reduced by 15,500, from 234,720 to 219,221, and the average waiting time for neurology services fell from 16.2 to 15.2 weeks. Over the same period, the proportion of patients seen within 18 weeks increased to around 57%, up from around 54% the previous year. We remain committed to returning to the NHS constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment by March 2029. As part of the Elective Reform Plan, we are investing in additional capacity and reforming outpatient services to help bring waiting times down, recognising that neurology is a particularly challenged specialty.

NHS England’s Neuroscience Transformation Programme is supporting ICBs to improve pathways, reduce unwarranted variation and provide care closer to home for neurology patients, including for patients with Tourette’s.

The Mental Health Act 2025 is a critical foundation to ensure that people with the most severe mental health conditions get better, more personalised care, and have greater choice and control over their treatment. NHS England’s mental health, learning disability and autism inpatient quality transformation programme will support cultural change and a new model of care for the future across all NHS-funded mental health inpatient settings. Local health systems have now published their three-year plans for localising and realigning inpatient care in line with this vision.

National Health Service audiology services are locally commissioned, and the responsibility for meeting the needs of non-hearing people lies with local NHS commissioners.

NHS Somerset commissions a range of hearing loss support services, with services provided at Yeovil Hospital and Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton, as well as in community hospitals for easier access, with further services provided in primary care.

In January 2026, the new community diagnostic centre at Yeovil Hospital opened and it includes audiology services.

Audiology services are provided by the Somerset Foundation Trust, which provides an ‘individual management plan’ for newly referred patients and will send letters as proof of a patient’s hearing loss or need for hearing aids.

At the Somerset Foundation Trust, there has been considerable effort in recent years to improve waiting times and access to audiology services to support patients with hearing loss. Compared to the beginning of 2023/24, the proportion of patients seen within six weeks of referral has risen by over 20%, from 68.7% to 89.1%. The number of people waiting more than six weeks has gone from over 350 to approximately 100. This means that people are receiving diagnosis and specialist input sooner.

NHS Somerset is currently in the process of bringing together a working group which comprises key people from NHS Somerset, the Somerset Foundation Trust, general practices, patients with hearing loss, and members of the public to work together to improve access to audiology services.

We recognise that diagnosis rates of autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are lower in women and girls and lower than the best evidence on prevalence. This may reflect differences in how autism and ADHD present in males and females, which may make these conditions more difficult to identify in women and girls.

Some information on autism and ADHD diagnosis rates by gender can be taken from the Health and Care of People with Learning Disabilities, Experimental Statistics 2023 to 2024, published by NHS England, and based on 54.7% of registered patients. This data shows that 0.82% of females have an autism diagnosis recorded on their general practice (GP) record, whereas for males it is 1.84%. For ADHD, 0.9% of women had an ADHD diagnosis on their GP record, compared to 1.6% of men.

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines on autism and ADHD set out considerations for clinicians when assessing for autism or ADHD, including highlighting that autism and ADHD may be under-recognised in women and girls.

We are committed to supporting people with restless leg syndrome and ensuring they receive the support that they need, including referral to specialist services as appropriate.

Once diagnosed, and with a management strategy and care plan in place, the majority of people with restless leg syndrome can be cared for through routine access to primary, secondary, and community care services. Integrated care boards (ICBs), including the Somerset ICB which covers the Yeovil constituency, are responsible for commissioning most services for people with restless leg syndrome. ICBs are best placed to plan the provision of services to meet the needs of their local population.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published a clinical knowledge summary (CKS) on restless leg syndrome, which is available at the following link:

https://cks.nice.org.uk/topics/restless-legs-syndrome/

CKS’ are designed to collate and summarise all the guidance and evidence on specific topics and they are a source of supporting information mainly for National Health Service staff working in primary care. The CKS for restless leg syndrome recognises that iron deficiency and dysfunction of iron metabolism are likely causes of restless leg syndrome, and states that a full iron assessment, including ferritin, total iron-binding capacity, and percentage transferrin saturation, should be requested for patients with restless leg syndrome. If iron deficiency anaemia is found, or serum ferritin levels are less than 50 to 75 micrograms per litre, clinicians should investigate to identify a cause of iron deficiency and prescribe iron supplements.

We do not hold data on the time taken for patients to receive a diagnosis of restless leg syndrome after first presenting with relevant symptoms.

The Department invests over £1.6 billion each year on research through its research delivery arm, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).

The NIHR is funding a number of research projects on neurodiverse conditions including research into a new psychometric tool assessing the presentation of autism in women.

The NIHR continues to welcome funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and social care, including neurodiverse conditions. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality.

Welcoming applications on neurodiverse conditions to all NIHR programmes enables maximum flexibility, both in terms of the amount of research funding a particular area can be awarded, and the type of research which can be funded.

It is the responsibility of the integrated care boards (ICB) in England to make appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) assessments, in line with relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.

NHS England has established an ADHD taskforce which is working to bring together those with lived experience with experts from the National Health Service, education, charity, and justice sectors to get a better understanding of the challenges affecting those with ADHD, including timely and equitable access to services and support, with the report expected in the summer.

The Somerset ICB advises that it introduced a children and young people’s neurodevelopmental pathway and partnership advice line in 2021. The pathway offers assessment and support for ADHD and autism and since its introduction, NHS Somerset has doubled the capacity for first assessments. In respect of adults, the Somerset NHS Foundation Trust is working collaboratively with local partners to develop a new pathway and service model for the assessment and treatment of ADHD.

The department is committed to improving support for all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including those with dyslexia and other neurodiverse conditions.

We are providing £1 billion more for high needs budgets in 2025/26 financial year, bringing total high needs funding to £11.9 billion. This funding will help local authorities and schools with the increasing costs of supporting children and young people with complex SEND.

Early identification of need and support is critical to improving outcomes for children and young people with SEND, including those with dyslexia. There are already a number of measures to help teachers do this, including the phonics screening check and statutory assessments at the end of key stage 2.

Schools should apply a ‘graduated approach’ to identify a child’s needs, plan appropriate support, implement that support and review it regularly to ensure it continues to meet their identified needs. Through this, schools should develop personalised approaches to supporting the unique needs of individual pupils. Schools should involve pupils and their parents in this process, taking their views into consideration.

The core content framework and early career framework, for trainee and Early Career Teachers (ECTs) respectively, cover the first three years or more at the start of a teacher’s career. They set out the core body of knowledge skills and behaviours that define great teaching, and from September 2025 will be superseded by the combined Initial Teacher Training and Early Career Framework (ITTECF), which sets out a minimum entitlement to training and must be used by providers of initial teacher training and those delivering training to ECTs to create their curricula. The ITTECF contains significantly more content related to adaptive teaching and supporting pupils with SEND.

Measures have also been introduced to support the effective teaching of reading, including for those at risk of falling behind. This includes the English Hubs programme, the publication of the reading framework and an updated list of high-quality systematic synthetic phonics programmes for schools.

The English Hubs programme is dedicated to improving the teaching of reading, with a focus on supporting children making the slowest progress in reading. As part of the continuous professional development provided by the English Hubs, the Reading Ambition for All programme has been launched to improve outcomes for children who need additional support with reading, including those with SEND.

In the South West there are 6 English Hubs: Cornerstone, Ilsham, Kernow, Mangotsfield, Ramsbury and ‘Unlocking Excellence’. This academic year, they are supporting a total of 130 schools with the Reading Ambition for All programme.

Neurodivergent people bring many positive benefits to workplaces but face particular barriers to employment, which is reflected in a poor overall employment rate. As a government, we want to support all forms of neurodiversity in the workplace, including dyslexia, by encouraging employers to adopt neuro-inclusive working practices so that everyone can thrive at work well before diagnosis.

On 29 January this year, the Government launched an independent panel of academics with expertise and experiences of neurodiversity to advise us on boosting neurodiversity awareness and inclusion at work. Many of the panel are diagnosed or identify as neurodivergent and/or have familial experience alongside their professional experience and expertise.

The panel will consider the reasons why neurodivergent people have poor experiences in the workplace, and a low overall employment rate. Recommendations are expected to include employer actions that can support the inclusion of neurodivergent people, including in recruitment and day to day workplace practices.

Employers have a key role to play. Our support to employers includes the online Support with Employee Health and Disability service, to support employers managing health and disability in the workplace. This includes questions of disclosure and equipping employers to feel confident having conversations about health and disability. The Disability Confident scheme also signposts employers to expert resources which support the employment of disabled people, including neurodivergent people.

The Department of Education has invested £1.34 billion in the 2024/25 academic year in education and skills training for adults through the Adult Skills Fund (ASF). Education and Skills Funding Agency funded ASF includes funds for Learning Support, which helps providers to meet the additional needs of learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities, including the costs of reasonable adjustments as set out in the Equality Act 2010. Learning Support can cover a range of needs including an assessment for dyslexia.

Adults who wish to be assessed for dyslexia are advised to contact a local or national dyslexia association for advice. Further information on dyslexia assessments, can be found on the NHS.uk website: Dyslexia - Diagnosis - NHS

Data on waiting times for dyslexia assessments is not held centrally. Assessments for dyslexia in children are provided by an educational psychologist or an appropriately qualified specialist dyslexia teacher. If a parent thinks their child may be dyslexic, as a first step they should speak to their child’s teacher or their school's special educational needs co-ordinator about their concerns. They may be able to offer additional support to help the child if necessary. Further information on dyslexia assessments can be found on the NHS.UK website, at the following link:

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/dyslexia/diagnosis/

The early identification of needs and support is critical to improving outcomes for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities, including those with dyslexia. There are already a number of measures to help teachers do this, including the phonics screening check and the statutory assessments at the end of key stage two.