Today marks an important milestone for a new focus on menopause care in Ireland as patients access the first of an intended four publicly funded specialist Menopause Clinics. It is planned that a further three specialist clinics will be approved, funded and developed in 2022.
The Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly TD, announced funding for this clinic in September, supported through ring-fenced investment through the Women’s Health Fund. Remarking on the opening of the clinic, the Minister said: “As women begin to utilise this specialist service from today, the Department of Health and the Women’s Health Taskforce welcome another important step on the road to better menopause care for women in Ireland.”
In Ireland, the majority of menopause care will be provided to women in their community led by their GP or practice nurse. This multi-disciplinary Menopause Clinic is another layer of support for women experiencing complex menopause symptoms. This clinic will be supported by GPs with a certified special interest in the area of menopause and clinical nurse/midwife specialists.
In addition to seeing women who meet the clinical criteria for referral to the service, the clinical team will also reach out to provide advice and guidance to GPs in the community as they continue to lead the effective management of menopausal symptoms for women closer to home within primary care.
The Women’s Health Taskforce has been growing the support available to women in primary care by supporting the Irish College of General Practitioners to develop a quick reference menopause guide for all GPs and practice nurses so that all clinicians have access to the same quality information. To respond to the Radical Listening exercises where women asked for better information on menopause to be provided from trusted sources, the Taskforce is also supporting a series of other initiatives for example, a public menopause webinar attended by 200 women, and the roll out of HR menopause training for the largest employer in the state, the Civil Service.
Budget 2022 provided further commitment to a focussed approach in menopause care with funding for three further specialist menopause clinics, to bring the number of clinics nationally to four. Once in place, specialist menopause clinics will be provided in Dublin, Limerick, Galway and Cork working to complement the menopause support available to women in their community.
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NOTES TO EDITORS
Menopause: a new approach
In September 2021 Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly TD, announced his commitment to establish dedicated specialist menopause clinics across Ireland. These clinics will form a core part of a new approach to menopause care for women in Ireland and will be supported by enhanced community and primary care supports as well as the publication of targeted and trusted sources of information for women experiencing menopause. The development follows the advice of the Women’s Health Taskforce and ring-fenced investment through the Women’s Health Fund.
The first phase of change includes the development of a dedicated specialist menopause clinic, in the National Maternity Hospital, Holles Street this year.
Initially, referrals will be taken from the National Maternity Hospital catchment area, with plans for this to be then broadened out to Ireland East. While the majority of women who seek support for their menopause can be effectively supported within primary care by their general practitioner, approximately 25% of symptomatic women will require specialist medical expertise in menopause. Specifically, this cohort of women will fall within four broad categories:
- treatment does not improve their menopausal symptoms
- they have ongoing troublesome side effects, for example: bleeding
- they have contra-indications to HRT; and
- there is uncertainty about the most suitable treatment option for their menopausal symptoms, for example: complex medical history
This clinic will accept referrals from GPs based on the four criteria identified above, with a view to this cohort of women being provided with specialist medical advice and management regarding their menopausal management. Further referral details will be available on the website in the next few days.
Alongside these specialist clinics, significant work has been taking place to progress menopause care and consideration in general:
- Funding has been provided through the Women's Health Fund to the Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP) to develop a 'quick reference guide' for GPs and practice nurses on the menopause. This guide will help improve understanding of menopause management and to support primary care provision in this area.
- As part of the “Tell me more about…” women’s health webinar series led by the Women’s Health Taskforce, a public webinar on menopause was held yesterday on the 29th of November. Speakers at the event were Dr Deirdre Lundy, menopause specialist and trainer and Sally Anne Brady, founder of the Irish Menopause community. This webinar had approximately 200 attendees and a recording of this will be made publicly available in the coming weeks.
- A 'Menopause Awareness for Managers’ training session was held today November 30th for both civil service HR staff and civil service managers. This follows on from the civil-service wide webinar on menopause at work on October 18th, which had almost 500 attendees. It is planned that a working group will be drawn from Departments and meet to discuss what better supports and consideration for menopause looks like across the civil service.
- Further developments are anticipated in 2022 as needs arise.
Learn more about the new approach to menopause care for women in Ireland.
Women’s Health Taskforce
Women’s Health is a priority for this government as outlined in the Programme for Government’s commitments to ‘Promoting Women’s Health’. A Women's Health Taskforce was established by the Department of Health in 2019 to improve women’s health outcomes and experiences of healthcare and following a recommendation from the Scoping Inquiry into the Cervical Check Screening Programme that women’s health issues be given more consistent, expert and committed attention by this department.
Learn more about the Women's Health Taskforce.
Civil Service ‘Menopause at Work’ event
To mark World Menopause Day, the Women’s Health Taskforce, in collaboration with the Civil Service Employee Assistance Service (CSEAS), held a civil service-wide webinar on ‘Let’s Talk: Menopause at Work’ with almost 500 attendees.
With almost 60% of the Civil Service workforce made up of women, the event aimed to normalise discussion around menopause with specific focus on menopause in a work context.
Minister for Health welcomes civil service-wide webinar on menopause at work