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UK MPs and charity press workplace rules for endometriosis
BBC reported that East Yorkshire woman Charlotte Samphire left her job because of endometriosis, as an APPG report and Hull charity Hey Endo! call for a national workplace framework.
- New headline Was: “'Painful condition meant I had to leave my job'”
- Our desk filed its story
A 21-year-old beauty therapist in East Yorkshire left her salon job because of severe endometriosis, the BBC reported, as a parliamentary group and a Hull charity pressed for clearer workplace rules1.
Charlotte Samphire has stage 4 endometriosis and told the BBC she has had debilitating pain since she was 10. She said her boss was understanding, but that women should not have to choose between careers and health1.
The BBC described endometriosis as a chronic condition in which cells similar to the lining of the womb grow elsewhere. It said diagnosis can take an average of nine years from the start of symptoms and that the condition affects 1.5 million people in the UK1. Those figures were attributed to the BBC's account, not independently verified here1.
The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Endometriosis recently published a workplace report commissioned and funded by Endometriosis UK, the BBC said1. Kirsteen Sullivan MP, who chairs the group and has endometriosis, said she wanted a national framework for women at work that builds on existing standards and menopause action plans introduced earlier this year, plus a review of Equality Act guidance so it better reflects fluctuating and chronic conditions1.
Hull charity Hey Endo!, registered in 2024 and co-founded by Helen Wilkinson and Ashleigh Hirst, has more than 3,500 service users, the BBC said1. Wilkinson said she went through 17 jobs in 14 years, often because of sickness absence. Last year the charity launched a workplace Best Practice Charter with the Hull and District Trades Union and MP Emma Hardy1.
Hirst said her symptoms began around age 11 and she was diagnosed at 25; the charity wants any national framework to include local groups1. A government spokesperson said endometriosis has a serious impact on wellbeing, relationships and workforce participation, and that the Renewed Women's Health Strategy names it as a priority and commits to better treatment and ongoing care1. Not medical advice.