Dr. Louise Newson

He's not had time off at all.

And Paul said to me, oh, he's come back and he's just said it's the first day his brain's felt clear.

And I said, that's just like being menopausal.

That brain fog is so horrid.

And it's so hard when you need your brain, you know, and you don't know until it happens, of course.

But it's also, you know, again, it's about choice.

And that's where I think, you know, our work of empowering our patients and following them on a journey and involving others, you know, who are allied healthcare professionals is crucially important.

It's a long way to go, yeah.

I mean, I remember about 10 years ago when Dame Sally Davis was the CMO, the chief medical officer, and going to a meeting at the Department of Health.

And saying then, you know, 40% of NHS employees are menopausal women.

We know around 10% give up their jobs.

We did a survey and found that 37% of women were going to their jobs but not enjoying it.

They would reduce their hours if they could afford to.

because of their menopausal symptoms.

And we know the main symptoms that affect people at work are anxiety, fatigue and memory problems.

So, you know, even looking at our NHS that employs so many people, there should be clinics everywhere for people.

There should be easier access to hormones.

Absolutely, and it's multi organs.

Our hormones get everywhere.

So what we're basically saying is we should probably take it off gynaecologists and as GPs we're better suited.