THE Medicare system is “failing girls and women” waiting years for a diagnosis of endometriosis because it does not pay doctors enough to encourage the necessary long consultations with patients.

A senior gynaecologist says a new Medicare payment is needed to make it financially viable for gynaecologists to spend more time consulting with women presenting with complex symptoms of the disease. Endometriosis causes tissue similar to the lining of the uterus to grow elsewhere.

Gynaecologists are paid as little as $72.50 for a consultation, which may take up to an hour and examine an average of eight symptoms of the disease, including abdominal pain, nausea and fatigue.

There is a larger financial incentive for gynaecologists to opt for surgery to remove the lesions that grow inside women with endometriosis, rather than spend more time examining treatment options.

Other clinicians are better paid through Medicare to carry out long consultations, such as a psychiatrist who receives $384 to conduct a 45- minute session examining factors contributing to anxiety.

Dr Susan Evans, who ran a private practice in Adelaide for 20 years and leads the Pelvic Pain Foundation, has written to the Medicare Benefits Schedule Review Committee proposing a new Medicare item number for gynaecologists to reverse the current rewarding of “surgery over comprehensive consultations”.

“A gynaecologist receives the same rebate for a 10-minute, single issue, undemanding consultation … as they do for a one-hour, multiple-issue consultation with a range of concerns,” she writes.

“The current system is failing girls and women.”

The average wait time for a diagnosis of endometriosis is eight years.

The Federal Government this year committed to a National Action Plan to address the disease, including encouraging more gynaecologists to upskill to improve care and reduce the wait time for a diagnosis, without relying on surgery.

A spokeswoman for the federal Health Department said more than 5700 items on the Medicare Benefits Schedule were being reviewed by a taskforce, which was expected to report to the Federal Government early next year. Its recommendations will first be put to public consultation.

The college representing gynaecologists would not comment on the proposal.