In January 2026, NHS England announced something quietly transformative: when the new NHS Online hospital launches, menstrual conditions and severe menopause symptoms will be two of the nine priority areas it supports.

Out of nine. Two explicitly focused on women’s health.

For a system that has historically asked women to wait, minimize, or normalize pain, this matters.

From 2027, NHS Online will allow patients to be triaged through the NHS App, speak to specialist clinicians remotely, and be monitored from home - while still retaining access to in - person care when needed. The ambition is scale and speed: up to 8.5 million virtual appointments in its first three years, delivered nationally rather than through fragmented local pathways.

But for people living with endometriosis, fibroids, heavy menstrual bleeding, or debilitating menopause experiences, the most important word in the announcement isn’t digital. It’s priority.

Why this is a big deal for menstrual health

Menstrual conditions are common, painful, and chronically under - served.

Endometriosis alone affects around 1 in 10 women, yet the average time to diagnosis in the UK still sits close to nine years. During that time, people cycle through GP appointments, referrals, dismissal, and temporary fixes - often while pain becomes chronic and increasingly centralized in the nervous system.

NHS England’s decision to include menstrual problems (including suspected endometriosis and fibroids) as a first - wave condition is an acknowledgment of two things women have been saying for decades:

1. These experiences are serious.
2. Delays in access cause real harm.

A national online service that connects patients directly to specialist expertise - regardless of postcode - has the potential to reduce variation, shorten diagnostic timelines, and make follow - up care less burdensome. Not by replacing physical care, but by removing unnecessary friction around getting to it.

That distinction matters. NHS Online is explicit that face-to-face appointments, imaging, and procedures remain essential. What changes is how quickly you reach the right clinician, and how much of the journey can happen without repeatedly having to prove your pain.

Endometriosis UK: “a real step forward - if it’s done properly”

Endometriosis UK welcomed the announcement, describing it as a potential “step change” in diagnosis and care - particularly if it helps reduce diagnosis times from nearly a decade to closer to one year by 2030.

Their response also highlights something crucial: access alone isn’t enough. For NHS Online to work for menstrual health, it must be properly resourced, with clinicians trained in gynecological conditions and local diagnostic services (such as specialist ultrasound) available to support remote pathways.

Choice matters too. A digital option should expand access, not narrow it. Women must retain genuine control over how and where they receive care.

That balance - between scale and sensitivity - is the real test of this model.

Menopause is finally being treated as neurological - not just hormonal

The inclusion of severe menopause symptoms as a priority condition is equally significant.

Menopause is still too often framed as a reproductive endpoint rather than a neurological transition. Yet experiences like brain fog, mood instability, sleep disruption, anxiety, and depression are fundamentally brain - based, shaped by changing estrogen signaling in the central nervous system.

Faster access to specialists through NHS Online could make a meaningful difference for people who currently wait months - or years - to be taken seriously, particularly those whose experiences fall outside the narrow stereotype of “hot flashes.”

Why we care about this shift

Our work starts from a simple but often overlooked premise: when it comes to menstrual and menopause experiences, the brain isn’t downstream - it’s central.

Pain, mood changes, fatigue, and cognitive disruption are not peripheral side effects to be managed later. They are mediated, amplified, and regulated by neural networks. That’s why solutions that ignore the brain often fail women over the long term.

Nettle™ was built for exactly this gap: supporting people living with menstrual pain, PMS, PMDD, and endometriosis at home, by working directly with the brain systems involved in pain and emotional regulation.

We are already working with the NHS in a specialist endometriosis setting, where Nettle™ is being explored as part of structured clinical care. The opportunity here would be scale: enabling women to access evidence - based, brain - targeted support at home, wherever they are in the country, while their progress and experiences can be monitored by clinicians through digital and online pathways.

Alongside Samphire, our app for building long-term cycle awareness and stability, the goal isn’t to replace clinical care - but to extend it beyond the clinic. Especially during the long stretches when people are waiting for appointments, imaging, or surgery, and need support that fits into real life.

A future NHS pathway that is more digital, more national, and more connected creates real opportunity for this kind of integration: earlier support, fewer years of unmanaged pain, and care models that reflect how these conditions actually work.

A cautious optimism

This announcement doesn’t fix everything. Digital services can widen inequities if they’re poorly designed. Menstrual health has been promised attention before, only to slide back down the agenda. And even if this model works, meaningful integration at national scale will take years.

But prioritization matters. Design choices matter. And national signals matter.

For the first time, menstrual conditions and menopause aren’t being treated as niche add - ons to a “real” healthcare system. They’re part of the first wave.

That’s worth paying attention to - and holding accountable.

Because women’s health doesn’t need another pilot. It needs durable change, grounded in how bodies and brains actually work.