We welcome calls for the NHS to be more menopause friendly and are delighted that Amanda Pritchard, the chief executive of NHS England, has presented new guidance on how to support staff who are working through menopause. 

Many NHS Employers have already been working on this for years. Henpicked: Menopause in the Workplace has supported individual NHS trusts in nearly every geographical location – training every aspect of their workforce from colleagues to line managers, HR to Menopause Champions and Advocates – to build awareness and education of menopause in the workplace, as well as providing guidance on policies. 

35 NHS trusts have taken this a step further by working towards Menopause Friendly Accreditation. These NHS employers are committed to making real change to the lived experience of colleagues. 

To date, 6 exceptional NHS Trusts and Integrated Care Systems have already been independently accredited as Menopause Friendly: 

• Queen Elizabeth Hospital Kings Lynn NHS Foundation Trust 

• South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 

• Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust 

• Humber and North Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership 

• Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care System

• Hertfordshire and West Essex Integrated Care System 

Change happens step by step, and these wonderful employers are already inspiring national activity. We love our NHS and giving the right support to retain their excellent talent is important to us, so we offer discounted membership for NHS trusts. Get in touch today. 

We hope that sharing success stories of some of the independently accredited Menopause Friendly NHS employers will motivate other Trusts to follow suit. As the biggest employer of women in the UK, and with 1 in 5 employees between the ages of 45 and 55, approximately 260,000 people, this is more crucial than ever before. 

Nottingham University Hospital NHS Trust – the first NHS Trust to become Menopause Friendly 

The majority of Nottingham Hospitals staff are female and fit within the age bracket of when menopause might occur. Following a three-year scheme, in July 2021 Nottingham University became the first NHS Trust to become independently accredited as Menopause Friendly. 

Jenny Good from Staff Wellbeing said: “We were receiving lots of requests from staff and management enquiring about what support was there for them when they were going through the menopause, and to begin with there wasn’t any support in place. That’s when we reached out to see how we could support staff.” 

Evelyn Dickey, Menopause Friendly’s Independent Panel member sang NUH’s praises: “After thorough assessment, the Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust’s menopause programme clearly demonstrates that providing colleagues with the right awareness, education and support is important to them. They’ve created a culture enabling people to talk about menopause openly, launched a comprehensive policy, regularly provide expert training and engaged their colleagues, including creating a strong network of menopause advocates. We’re delighted to recognise them as the UK’s first accredited Menopause Friendly NHS Trust.” Read more here. 

Queen Elizabeth Hospital Kings Lynn NHS Foundation Trust: the first NHS Trust to include being menopause friendly in their job adverts 

Recognising the importance of the right menopause practices in attracting great talent, in July 2021 QEH became the first NHS Trust in the country to state that it is a menopause-friendly employer in its job adverts. The Trust outlines its menopause support for employees at the point of job application, and has a clear package of support in place. This includes training and awareness for managers and staff, a network of support through volunteer Menopause Champions, and a regular Menopause Clinic to bring support directly to staff going through the menopause, as well as their families. 

Caroline Shaw CBE, Chief Executive at QEH, added: “Going through the menopause can be an uncomfortable time and experiencing it within the workplace is an additional challenge. Those who are of menopausal age may need specific considerations and being a menopause-friendly employer is about encouraging conversations about what an individual is going through which can reduce stress and improve the way colleagues feel about coming to work.” 

Professor Steve Barnett, Chairman at QEH, says: “This is an incredible honour for QEH, and this is a huge step forward for the Trust in making the hospital an even better place to work.” Read more here. 

South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust: Invited to showcase their work at Women and Equalities Committee at the Houses of Parliament 

South Tees Hospital gained Menopause Friendly accreditation in February 2022 and their exemplary work attracted the attention of the Houses of Parliament. Sharon Ollivier, Training and Development Lead was invited to showcase their work at the Women and Equalities Committee at the Houses of Parliament to inform on a national scale about how menopausal women can be better supported in the workplace – shaping the future for menopausal women everywhere. 

Julia Frost, Training Advisor says “Being a menopause friendly employer means that we have been recognised by an independent panel as having in place a culture of support for our colleagues, sufficient and reliable training and evidence of ongoing sustainable help for those colleagues who need it.” 

“It also shows the Trust has created an environment where menopause can be spoken about easily. As part of this the Trust has introduced awareness training for staff; including sessions for our male colleagues and a Women-o-Pause support group, which is a safe space for female colleagues to share experiences with expert guest speakers who discuss different subjects each month relating to menopause. A specific menopause policy (G187) is now in place across the Trust too.” Read more here. 

The NHS Trusts that are committed to becoming, or already independently accredited as Menopause Friendly Employers are change makers – making a huge difference to menopausal people now, and for generations to come. Will you be joining them?