Channel 4 offers staff women’s health tests

CHANNEL 4 is offering female staff free blood tests to screen for health problems that could be preventing them from getting pregnant.

The broadcaster said it had agreed a six-month trial with reproductive health company Hertility to identify hormone imbalances as well as assess the onset of menopause.

The at-home blood tests, which workers will be able to order, will also screen for 18 health conditions such as polycystic ovaries or endometriosis.

Alex Mahon, chief executive, said the partnership with Hertility was in line with Channel 4’s commitment to support women’s health and the wellbeing of all its workers.

The broadcaster has been trying to help with mental and physical health. In 2019, it rolled out a policy giving paid leave if workers felt unwell due to menopause and offering flexible working.

Last year the company launched a pregnancy loss policy offering counselling and two weeks fully-paid leave for staff who had had been affected by a miscarriage, stillbirth or abortion.

Under the Hertility tie-up, Channel 4 said employees would be able to attend educational workshops on reproductive issues and hormonal wellbeing.

Channel 4’s latest policy comes just weeks after Ms Mahon defended the broadcaster from criticism that it should try to emulate the success of American streaming apps.

Speaking at the Royal Television Society Convention in September, she said: “It is like when people say ‘we should be more like Amazon’, but then think of those people in warehouses running around without a toilet, so they have to wee in a plastic bottle.”

Amazon admitted last year that drivers had sometimes been forced to urinate in bottles while making deliveries, but argued that this issue did not stretch to its warehouses.