Endometriosis services in Northern Ireland get £1.95m, with two regional centres funded
Each of the five health trusts will share in the money, and 130 patients have had robotic surgery at Belfast City Hospital since May.
Women with endometriosis in Northern Ireland are to get better access to specialist care under £1.95m of new funding announced on Monday by Health Minister Robbie Butler.
The condition, in which tissue similar to the lining of the womb grows elsewhere in the body, can cause severe pelvic pain, fatigue and fertility problems.
Of the money, £700,000 goes to the two Regional Endometriosis Centres in the Belfast and Western trusts. The other £1.25m is split equally across the five Health and Social Care Trusts, for local services and a new Regional Endometriosis Pathway for patients. The department said the announcement supports its wider programme on waiting lists, made possible by the Executive's £80m Programme for Government package for elective care in 2026/27. Earlier funding of £1.8m for assessment and triage services and £1.9m for procedural nursing capacity is also going into gynaecology care.
Butler visited the Regional Endometriosis Centre at Belfast City Hospital, where a Da Vinci 5 robot has been used in gynaecology since May. So far 130 patients who needed complex surgery have had robotic-assisted operations. The Belfast Trust's charitable funds paid for the machine, with running support from the department.
The department said progress on waits was already showing. Outpatient waiting lists across Northern Ireland fell from 54,770 in September 2025 to 47,318 in September 2026, and the number waiting more than a year for inpatient and day case treatment dropped by 56%. In the Belfast Trust, the number of women waiting for a first outpatient gynaecology appointment is down 4%.
A Regional Health and Social Care Gynaecology Services Forum has been set up to oversee how services improve.
