Diagnostics
delays, and disengage with the diagnostic process. These patients may experience worsening symptoms without ever having the reassurance of being supported with appropriate management plans and guidance. As well as giving patients direction through a diagnosis, using a blood test to diagnose PCOS also promises system-wide benefits for the NHS, by keeping patients in the care pathway and allowing clinicians to make timely interventions for the management of PCOS.
Exposing gaps in women’s health guidance With the updated Rotterdam Criteria, it is now important that clinicians across the NHS can access the option of AMH testing for all patients, regardless of where they live. Because there is no dedicated NICE guidance on PCOS diagnosis, it is all the more important for the international guidelines to be shared more widely so that we can provide the clinical support that these women need consistently across the NHS. The Women’s Health Strategy for England in 2022 promised to develop specific NICE guidelines for PCOS – a clear recognition that government bodies understood the urgency of greater consistency of care for patients, clearer pathways for clinicians, and more efficient use of NHS resources.2 The sad truth is that patients who suffer with PCOS, and clinicians who treat it, are frustrated. Little work has been done to reach a cure for PCOS, with progress hampered by lack of research, investigation, and resources. Women with long term conditions such as PCOS are often left feeling abandoned and alone. Our healthcare system could do so much more to recognise – and therefore mitigate – their suffering. However, it is heartening that we have
advanced a collective understanding of the importance of prevention and earlier diagnosis of PCOS. The introduction of a blood test as a diagnostic option means that, if our system can employ it correctly, patients will no longer have to wait years to be diagnosed. But like all innovations, it is only of benefit if it actually reaches those who need it -- and that’s where we have a great deal more work to do.
References 1.
https://www.monash.edu/__data/assets/ pdf_file/0003/3379521/Evidence-Based- Guidelines-2023.pdf
2.
https://www.gov.uk/government/ publications/womens-health-strategy- for-england/womens-health-strategy-for- england
About the author
Dr. Anne Connolly, MBE, GP, is the chair of the Primary Care Women’s Health Forum (PCWHF), and RCGP Clinical Champion For Women’s Health (Retired). After a two-year volunteer posting to an
under-resourced mission hospital in rural Zimbabwe Anne returned to General Practice in inner-city Bradford in 1990 and, until recently, was working as a GP providing care for asylum seekers, refugees, homeless and sex workers. She was a GPwSI in gynaecology , accredited
as a hysteroscopist and FSRH trainer. She has been involved with commissioning since 2006 and retired as aCCG clinical board member with remit for maternity, women’s, children and young
people’s healthcare in 2019. Anne was the co-editor of Women’s Health
in Primary Care and was also honoured to be awarded an MBE for her work in women’s health in the 2021 Queens Birthday Honours List.
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