All women aged 45 should get a free NHS menopause check, say MPs

All women aged 45 and over should be offered a free NHS menopause health check, MPs have said.

The All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Menopause (APPG) said much more needed to be done to support and advise women, including making HRT prescriptions free on the NHS and improving doctors’ training on the symptoms.

Its new report says: “The NHS should implement a health check for all women aged 45, offered in the same way as cervical cancer smears when all women are invited to book an appointment.

“It is essential to ensure that women are involved in the health system before or in the early stages of perimenopause, to help diagnose menopause at an earlier stage and to ensure that women are better prepared and have the appropriate information and treatment they need to manage the transition to menopause. »

Men and women already get a free NHS health check from the age of 40, but this specifically looks for early signs of stroke, heart disease, diabetes or dementia.

In its new study, the APPG said one of its main concerns is that women face a postcode lottery over whether they can access the right treatment from their GP.

The year-long APPG investigation heard from a 39-year-old woman who suspected she was perimenopausal and was turned away by her GP and told to “wait and see”.

About 18 months later, she said she was “almost on the verge of collapse, struggling to keep her usually happy marriage on track and not functioning well physically or mentally.”

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