According to new research almost 50% of women going through the menopause are turning to private healthcare services in order to help manage symptoms after failing to either receive appropriate support or correct prescriptions from NHS services.

Menopause affects 51% of the adult population, with the majority of the 3.4 million women aged between 50 and 64 experiencing a myriad of symptoms from hot flushes, heart palpitations and vaginal pain to disturbed sleep, depression and anxiety.  The average age in the UK for a woman to reach menopause is 51, however menopause can affect women at younger ages with around 1 in 100 women experiencing symptoms before the age of 40.

Campaigners have warned that some women are facing financial debt in order to fund private treatment.  This comes after data from the Menopause Support Network advised that following a recent survey of just over 600 women, around 48% advised that they had been ‘left with no option but to seek private menopause care.’

Diane Danzebrink who is a psychotherapist, menopause expert and founder of the Menopause Support Network told a recent interview; ‘A lot of GPs don’t have adequate menopause education.

‘The GP is the gatekeeper of health.  You have to get past the GP to any specialist service.  So, if your GP doesn’t recognise your physical, psychological or cognitive symptoms as menopause then they won’t refer you.’

Describing the situation as a ‘national disgrace’ with women being left with no other option but to pay for private services, Ms Danzebrink described some women being refused Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) by some doctors due to their age, with some women in their 40’s being told that they are too young to receive treatment.

A spokesperson for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG), Dr Heather Currie, who also runs a specialist menopause clinic, told a recent interview that it made her ‘sad that this is the situation women are finding themselves in.’ 

Dr Currie who is a Trustee and former Chair of the British Menopause Society added; ‘Women shouldn’t have to seek advice privately.  There is a lot of work which is going on in the NHS and there are a lot of primary care teams that do a good job.  But we need to make sure there are adequate appropriate services in the NHS.’

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Carrie Plummer - Editor & Content Manager