It is “ridiculous” that some women with an agonizing condition that can cause infertility have waited more than eight years for a diagnosis, councilors have said.

Their report highlighted how some women in Staffordshire faced long waits for an endometriosis diagnosis and a lack of awareness of the condition.

Research by a working group addressing women’s health has concluded with a number of recommendations.

Councilor Janice Silvester-Hall, who chaired the taskforce, said data provided to them indicated waits of several years and “countless” GP appointments before being diagnosed.

The task force decided to focus on endometriosis, the advisers said, because of the lack of profile it had.

It called for more education in schools and increased support for gynecological conditions at the council’s family centres.

Endometriosis is a condition in which tissue that is meant to grow only in the uterus grows elsewhere, causing inflammation, bleeding and scar tissue formation.

The report says it is one of the most common gynecological conditions affecting about one in 10 women of reproductive age, which equates to about 1.5 million women nationwide.

“It can lead to infertility, chronic pain and reduced quality of life,” he added.

The counselor said: “There are still stigmas and taboos about what people will and won’t discuss,” she said.

She added: “One of the recommendations is that this report is shared with Keele University as well as our district and district councils.

“Another thing is to get it into the GP training curriculum, which it’s not at the moment – that was a recommendation that came from one GP in particular.”

Ann Edgeller, who was also part of the task force, said: “I didn’t realize the effect it could have on a woman’s life and the health impact it has on them.

“To know that it takes eight years to get any kind of help is absolutely ridiculous.”

Another member of the group, Julia Jessel, felt that a huge change had taken place in society.

“When I was younger it was ‘take an aspirin and get on with it,'” she said.

Others said the report highlighted a significant gap in health care outcomes between men and women and that it takes longer for women’s diagnoses to be recognized.

Councilor Charlotte Atkins said: “We hope it will mean that women are more demanding of their GPs and their health services to ensure that women’s diagnoses are prioritized so that there is some sort of parity between outcomes for men and women”.

Male members of the health and care watchdog said they found the report’s findings worrying and had not been too aware of the issues before reading the document.

“Awareness needs to be improved,” commented Councilor Steven Norman.

Councilor Richard Cox added: “There is still a lot of learning we can all do.”