With menopause affecting up to half of us – 3.905 billion across the world and menopausal women being the fastest growing demographic group in the global workforce, we believe it is crucial to support doctors going through the menopause so that they can continue to practise for longer.
As of March 2021, 76.7% of the 1.3 NHS staff are women. 89% of NMC registrants and 47.34% of registrants with the GMC are female. Interestingly, the number of female doctors on the register decreases quite dramatically after 45. Until then, female doctors form the majority of the profession. While there may be many reasons for this, the menopause could be one of them.
Through our “Supporting doctors through menopause” campaign, Medical Protection has surveyed members to find out their experiences of the menopause. Based on that feedback, we are making a range of policy recommendations with the aim of supporting female doctors struggling with menopause symptoms. We are calling for better training and education around menopause and its symptoms for managers and senior leaders, and asking healthcare organisations to consider flexible working arrangements to support female doctors to stay in the workforce for longer.
What our members have told us
In September 2022, we surveyed our members in the UK and Ireland to find out their experiences in dealing with the menopause – whether having experienced symptoms themselves, treating patients, or interacting with colleagues who may be struggling with symptoms.
The survey revealed that only 14% of female doctors who have experienced menopausal symptoms feel supported by their employer/workplace and only 7% feel supported by their line manager. 28% feel supported by colleagues, yet 17% say colleagues have been dismissive of their menopause symptoms.
In our survey, we also asked whether members had considered any work adjustments as a result of the menopause and almost 1 in 5 (19%) said they have considered early retirement due to menopause symptoms and the impact on their wellbeing.
Role of Medical Protection
MPS also has a role to play. As a mutual organisation, it is vital that we listen to and care for members – 52% of whom are female. We provide members with help to support their wellbeing and we campaign on behalf of members to promote reforms that would make a positive difference. The results of our survey on the menopause strongly suggest that more needs to be done to support those struggling with menopause symptoms. We also offer support with our members’ wellbeing and we have made our 24/7 confidential counselling service available for those struggling with the menopause.
Read about our proposals in our full policy report >
Read our press release here
You can get involved by helping create awareness of the need for more support for female doctors who may be struggling with menopause symptoms so that they can continue to stay on the workforce and treat patients for longer.
You'll notice a few things have changed on our website. After asking our members what they want in an online platform, we've made it easier to access our membership benefits and created a more personalised user experience.
Why not take our quick 60-second tour? We'll show you how it all works and it should only take a minute.
Take the tour Continue to site
Use the top navigation bar to access essential links from any page of the site.
Should you need to contact us, our phone numbers are always visible.
Start your search by choosing your profession and/or area of interest through the two dropdowns.
Enter keywords to find specific resources. For exact terms, just use speech marks, e.g. "record keeping".
We'll save your profession in the "I am a..." dropdown filter for next time.
Narrow your search based on theme, field, format, article, type or location.
Based on the pages you visit, we'll also provide useful links under the 'More' tab.
Now you've seen all of the updated features, it's time for you to try them out.
Continue to site Take again