Inquiry may be catalyst for change

Society is getting better at properly recognising – and dealing with – a whole variety of “hidden” conditions. Whether they involve mental or physical problems, or both, fewer people now feel the need to suffer in silence.

Employers, albeit not in all cases at the pace they should, are getting better at creating environments in which staff feel both able to be open about the struggles they endure and confident that they will get the appropriate workplace support.

Progress is by no means universal however, and some conditions remain cloaked by outdated taboos.

Extraordinarily, given just how debilitating it is for quite so many women, endometriosis is among them.

To read today’s outpouring of anguish from sufferers is to start to understand that they are being forced to suffer twice over.

As if the symptoms and consequences themselves were not an awful enough burden to endure, being then faced with a lack of understanding only compounds the heartache.

There are welcome signs of effort to improve how the first part of that equation is tackled, not least in the speed with which the NHS deals with patients.

Solving the other needs a concerted push to raise awareness and to end stigma.

By bringing together all those with a story to tell, this welcome inquiry by MPs may just be the catalyst for lasting change.

“Today’s outpouring of anguish from sufferers shows they are being forced to suffer twice”