An estimated one in seven women lives with chronic pelvic pain, yet getting a diagnosis can take an average of seven years.
Part of the problem is that women often need help from several different specialists, from gynaecologists and pelvic floor physiotherapists to psychologists, with little coordination between them.
Now UK women’s health startup Bloume Health has launched a digital clinic designed to bring that care together.
Founded in 2023 by Dr Claudia Chisari, Bloume has developed a service combining specialist gynaecology consultations, psychosexual therapy, structured support groups and a self-guided app.
The clinic supports women with conditions including vulvodynia, vaginismus, endometriosis, painful sex and other forms of persistent pelvic pain.
"Chronic pelvic pain isn't rare, but the care for it is," said Dr Chisari.
"It's been failed by both public and private systems. Bloume Clinic is what happens when clinicians who actually specialise in this build the service themselves."
Patients can start with any of the four services and move between them depending on their needs, rather than following a fixed treatment pathway.
Bringing different specialists together
Chisari, who completed what the company describes as the world’s first PhD focused on vulvodynia at King’s College London, has spent a decade researching psychological approaches to persistent pelvic pain.
She also has personal experience of vulvodynia:
“Chronic pelvic pain doesn’t sit within any single specialism,” she said.
“The systematic review from my PhD confirmed what patients have always known: biopsychosocial models, the kind that combine medical, psychological and social support, are consistently the most effective way to help women with these complex conditions.”
Bloume’s clinical team includes US-based specialist gynaecologist Dr Corey R. Babb, who focuses on female sexual medicine and vulvovaginal disorders.
The company is also advised by Professor Lance McCracken and Professor Rona Moss-Morris, both specialists in psychological approaches to chronic health conditions.
The clinic builds on Bloume’s self-guided app, which has been available to women in the UK since 2025.
A new model for pelvic pain care
Bloume has previously secured more than £215,000 from Innovate UK and angel investors and participated in the 2024 Accelerating FemTech programme.
The new clinic operates as a private service, with psychosexual therapy priced from £125 per session and initial gynaecology educational consultations from £250. Support groups cost £39 per month, while the app is available for £8.99 per month.
Services are available to women in the UK and internationally.
The launch comes as more women’s health startups explore specialist digital care models, particularly in areas where traditional healthcare pathways can leave women waiting years for answers.
For Bloume, the opportunity is to address a problem that extends beyond access to individual specialists: how to coordinate the different types of care women with chronic pelvic pain may need.