Lara said she had been trying to become pregnant for four years, but after a number of miscarriages and additional waits for fertility support, she opted to use her health insurance to have surgery privately.

“I was saddened that it wasn’t being seen as a priority, because when I did have my surgery I was riddled with it (endometriosis),” she said.

“It was all around the back of my bladder, my bowel, it was sitting under both my ovaries, and I hate to think if I had waited, what could have happened.”

The university lecturer, who lives near Cardiff, said she was led to believe at the time there were four or five year waits for surgery.

“I was in my early 30s at that point and didn’t want to be in my late 30s still trying, but also thinking about the damage the endometriosis was doing to my organs.

“No woman knows when their periods are going to end, so you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place.”