10% of women leave jobs due to menopause

One in 10 women have left a job due to menopausal symptoms, according to what is thought to be the largest survey of menopausal women ever in the UK.

The research, to feature in a TV show, found 14% of women had reduced their hours and 8% had not applied for promotion.

Davina McCall: Sex, Mind And The Menopause will present findings from the survey of more than 4,000 women.

Documentary makers asked Savanta ComRes to conduct a representative survey of 4,014 UK women aged 45-55 who are having or have had the menopause or perimenopause.

Research was supported by the Fawcett Society, which has produced a report called Menopause And The Workplace.

The report said the research found 10% of women have left a job due to their symptoms.

Mapped on to the total UK population of five million women aged 45-55, that would be 333,000.

A further 13% of menopausal women have considered leaving jobs.

The research found that disabled women were more likely to have left work due to the menopause (22%), as were women who said they experienced five or more “very difficult” menopause symptoms (19%).

Meanwhile, 45% of women surveyed said they had not talked to someone at their GP practice about the menopause.

Some 31% of women agreed that it took many appointments for their GP to diagnose the menopause or perimenopause, rising to 45% in women of colour and 42% in women with five or more severe symptoms.

Just 39% of women diagnosed by a GP or nurse were offered HRT to alleviate severe symptoms.

Prescriptions for HRT have more than doubled in England in five years, according to NHS data.

Demand for some HRT forms is outstripping supply.

Celebrities encouraging women not to suffer in silence has helped more to seek treatment.

McCall said GPs need to learn more about the menopause, and women should go “armed with information”.

Her documentary airs on Channel 4 at 9pm tonight.

SILENT SYMPTOMS: Research shows women struggling to get HRT for the menopause.

Davina McCall speaks up.