HRT surge ‘inevitable’ after Davina TV show

SUPPLIES OF DRUGS TO TREAT MENOPAUSE SYMPTOMS ARE ALREADY STRETCHED

A SURGE in demand for overstretched HRT supplies across Yorkshire is “inevitable” after Davina McCall’s latest documentary put the menopause back into the spotlight.

Demand for hormone replacement therapy (HRT) increased almost overnight following Ms McCall’s first programme about the menopause, Davina McCall, Sex, Mind and Myths, aired on Channel 4 in May 2021.

Figures from Open Prescribing show there were 24,666 prescriptions for female sex hormones and their modulators issued in Yorkshire that month, but prescriptions then increased by 16% in June, to 28,521.

These prescriptions include HRT and a range of other hormone treatments.

Demand continued to rise in the months immediately following the documentary, peaking at 36,034 prescriptions in December - a 46% increase on the monthly count of prescriptions before the original documentary was shown.

Now, after Ms McCall’s follow-up documentary - Davina McCall, Sex, Mind and the Menopause - aired on Monday, campaigners are expecting a new surge in demand for supplies, as many women are expected to seek HRT from their GPs for the first time.

That is in spite of UK shortages which have been labelled a “national disgrace”.

In December there were also 537,986 prescriptions issued nationally - a 41% rise from 382,632 prescriptions in May 2021.

HRT provides relief from the symptoms of the menopause including hot flashes, night sweats, low mood and anxiety.

But national shortages have meant many women have been able to get hold of HRT treatments and the government has now appointed Madelaine McTernan as its new “HRT Tsar” in an attempt to address this.

Labour MP Carolyn Harris - chair of the menopause all-party parliamentary group, co-chair of the menopause taskforce and co-founder of campaign group Menopause Mandate - called the shortages “a national disgrace”.

She said: “Prescriptions for HRT have more than doubled in the last five years. If you look at the charts showing NHS prescribing, the steeply climbing lines show a constant increase in demand for some products. There have been on/off shortages for the last three years.

“HRT isn’t a lifestyle drug. It’s a solution for the often debilitating symptoms which can accompany menopause; hot flushes, anxiety, depression, insomnia, aching joints, brain fog, palpitations and many more. For the one in 100 women who go through early menopause, it’s a medical necessity.

“We are already at crisis point. Women are so desperate that they are bartering on social media and driving miles to get it as well as eking out their bottles; halving their dose and cutting them open to get the last vestiges.

“It’s inevitable that demand will surge again following Davina McCall’s excellent programme. Her work has brilliantly helped to debunk the toxic myths surrounding HRT, which women ought to be able to access should they choose.”

Addressing the likely surge in demand - and accusations that her documentaries have fuelled shortages - Ms McCall told Sophie Raworth on BBC’s Sunday Morning Live: “I’m not going to feel bad about that,

I get really kind of annoyed when people are like it’s Davina’s fault.

“We are actually trying to help women sort out their hormones and live a normal healthy life. There were shortages way before that shortage came out last year.

“Apparently there’s a surplus of hormones in Europe. Why is it taking this long to sort out? HRT is a medicine, if there was a shortage in insulin or another medicine women had to take or men, that would get sorted out immediately.” Ms McCall’s latest documentary presented findings from a representative survey of 4,014 UK women aged 45-55 who are currently or have previously experienced the perimenopause or the menopause.

The research was supported by the Fawcett Society, which has produced a report called Menopause And The Workplace. The research found that 10% of menopausal women who are or have been employed during the menopause have left their job due to their symptoms.

It said that, mapped on to the total

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