It’s hard to get an efficient diagnosis in one short, 10-minute GP appointment . And as GP practices face understaffing and rising demand (between 2015 and 2024, the proportion of licensed GPs not working in the NHS rose from 27 per cent to 34 per cent), diagnosis is only getting harder.

While half of GP appointments are booked for the same day, a majority of women still feel their complaints are ignored or dismissed by healthcare professionals. A 2025 YouGov poll found that 70 per cent of women felt a GP had dismissed their health concerns, compared to 52 per cent of men.

“I see so many women in clinics who feel like this,” says Dr Deepali Misra-Sharp, a private GP and women’s health specialist. “It is not usually a case of misdiagnosis , but more that symptoms in women are ove

See Full Page