Patients with endometriosis will be able to get a diagnosis and start treatment sooner under new clinical guidelines.

The guidelines will mean general practitioners can make a clinical diagnosis based on a patient's symptoms, family history, and examination, rather than them having to wait for a laparoscopy.

Endometriosis is an inflammatory disease, in which tissue similar to the inner lining of the uterus grows outside it.

Symptoms include period and pelvic pain, subfertility and infertility.

Health Minister Simeon Brown said endometriosis affected one in 10 women and girls in New Zealand, but research had shown it could take eight to 12 years to receive a diagnosis.

Part of the problem, Brown said, was that a key method of diagnosis was laparoscopic surgery, which meant patients could spend years waiting for both diagnosis and treatment.

"The new guidelines will change that by supporting GPs to make a clinical diagnosis based on a woman's symptoms, family history, and examination, rather than requiring surgery to confirm it. Once a clinical diagnosis is made, GPs will then be able to prescribe treatment immediately," he said.

The change would mean low impact hormonal medication could be prescribed without delay, which Brown said was an effective option for up to 60 percent of women.

Laparoscopic surgery would remain available for those who needed it, but it would no longer be the only route to diagnosis.

Health NZ would adapt the Australian Living Evidence Guideline on Endometriosis for use in New Zealand, in collaboration with the Royal Australian and NZ College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, other medical colleges and Endometriosis NZ.

It was expected the guidelines would be launched in mid-2027.

Endometriosis New Zealand has been calling for the guidelines to be updated, saying the Australian guidelines were a "gold standard in evidence-based care."

Those guidelines recommend the use of non-invasive imaging, such as pelvic ultrasound, as a first-line diagnostic tool, moving away from reliance on diagnostic laparoscopy.

Minister for Women Nicola Grigg said the New Zealand guidelines would be supported by training and education for primary care providers.

"Earlier diagnosis depends on symptoms being recognised in the first place, and we hear all too often that they have not been," she said.

"Too many women have spent years saying something is wrong, only to be told their pain is normal and something they simply have to put up with. It is not."

The guidelines will be updated regularly, as new evidence emerges.