Pulse ·
Australia's first endometriosis management plan reaches the GP room
Australia's first Endometriosis Management Plan (EMP) launched on 17 September 2026, developed by Monash University's SPHERE NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence and the RACGP. It gives GPs a seven-step care pathway covering pain, heavy menstrual bleeding, fertility concerns, and mental health — framing endometriosis as a chronic condition requiring ongoing shared care rather than a diagnostic endpoint.
The plan is patient-centred and built around shared decision-making. Clinical resources and patient tools are available at endometriosismanagementplan.org and through RACGP gplearning.
If you have endometriosis, you already know what it is to wait.
Wait for someone to take the pain seriously. Wait through the referrals. Wait for a diagnosis that comes, on average, years after symptoms begin. The path from a first presentation to general practice to a confirmed diagnosis and structured management has, for many patients, been long enough to become its own source of harm.
Australia’s first Endometriosis Management Plan launched on 17 September 2026, and it is aimed directly at that gap.
Endometriosis affects approximately 1 in 9 Australian women. It is one of the most common gynaecological conditions in this country, and for decades it has been managed inconsistently — partly because the definitive diagnostic standard (laparoscopy) is invasive and resource-intensive, partly because pelvic pain has been historically undertreated and normalised, and partly because there has not been a structured clinical pathway to support the general practice consultation.
The EMP changes that last part.
What the plan is
The Endometriosis Management Plan is a seven-step care pathway developed through a partnership between Monash University’s SPHERE NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence and the RACGP, funded under the National Action Plan for Endometriosis. It was launched on 17 September 2026 at RACGP College House in Melbourne, with input from patients, clinicians, and researchers.
The seven steps are structured around what matters most to patients: pelvic pain, heavy menstrual bleeding, fertility concerns, and mental health. The framework begins with patient goal-setting — a deliberate design choice that reflects the evidence on what drives engagement and adherence in chronic disease management.
Professor Danielle Mazza from Monash University’s SPHERE Centre describes the aim as bringing the evidence into the hands of patients. RACGP President Dr Michael Wright noted the plan has potential to improve health outcomes and quality of life for people living with endometriosis and chronic pelvic pain.
What the EMP also does — and this is where the clinical significance sits — is support GPs to begin management based on symptom assessment, without waiting for surgical confirmation. Laparoscopy remains the definitive diagnostic test, but requiring surgical confirmation before initiating management has contributed to years of undertreated pain for many patients. The plan explicitly frames endometriosis as a chronic condition requiring ongoing, multidisciplinary management — not a diagnosis to be confirmed before care begins.
Clinical tools and patient resources are available at endometriosismanagementplan.org, with GP education through RACGP gplearning webinars and eLearning modules.
Both sides of this
The case for the EMP is clear. Endometriosis has been structurally underserved in the Australian health system. Diagnosis delays are long, pain has been routinely dismissed or normalised, and the general practice consultation has lacked a scaffold for structured management. A RACGP-endorsed, NHMRC-developed care pathway that centres patient priorities is a meaningful improvement on the inconsistency of current practice.
The tensions worth naming:
First, tools are not the same as time. A GP working through a seven-step framework with a patient who has spent years being told their pain is normal will need more than a ten-minute appointment. The EMP’s chronic disease framing is clinically correct — endometriosis often requires ongoing reviews, multidisciplinary coordination, and treatment adjustments across the reproductive lifespan. Current general practice funding structures do not consistently support that model for complex chronic conditions.
Second, the EMP cannot fix specialist access. Pelvic pain clinics, gynaecologists with endometriosis expertise, and pain specialists are unevenly distributed across Australia and often carry significant waiting lists. The plan creates a roadmap for the GP consultation; it does not shorten the specialist pathway at the end of it.
These are not reasons to avoid the plan. They are the context in which it will be used — and honest conversations with patients about what the pathway realistically looks like matter as much as the plan itself.
What this means in general practice this week
If you are seeing patients with pelvic pain, heavy menstrual bleeding, or subfertility — and are not yet using a structured approach to endometriosis management — the EMP is now available through endometriosismanagementplan.org and RACGP gplearning.
For patients who come to you after years of being dismissed: the plan provides the documentation structure, management framework, and explicit chronic disease framing to support a different kind of consultation. One that starts with what the patient is actually trying to achieve.
For patients already under specialist care: the EMP supports the GP role in ongoing management between specialist appointments — monitoring symptom burden, reviewing hormonal therapy and pain management, and addressing the mental health toll that chronic pain carries.
The plan was designed with patients in the room. That matters.
Verdict: yes — a practical clinical tool launched today that addresses one of the most consistent gaps in endometriosis care in Australian general practice.
Sources cited
Frequently asked questions
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What is the Endometriosis Management Plan and how do I access it?
The EMP is a seven-step clinical care pathway developed by Monash University's SPHERE NHMRC Centre and the RACGP. It structures endometriosis consultations around symptoms most important to patients — pain, bleeding, fertility, and mental health. Access it at endometriosismanagementplan.org or through gplearning on racgp.org.au.
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Does the EMP require laparoscopic confirmation before starting management?
No. The plan supports GPs to begin management based on clinical symptom assessment, without waiting for surgical confirmation. This reflects the shift toward treating endometriosis as a chronic disease requiring multidisciplinary ongoing care.