Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure NHS staff receive adequate training to (a) ask menopause questions and (b) support affected women in routine NHS health checks.

We will be working with experts, including general practitioners (GPs), over the coming months to co-design the menopause content for the NHS Health Check. The NHS Health Check Best Practice Guidance will be updated to reflect the addition of menopause, and it will be for local authority commissioners to implement this through their NHS Health Check providers and ensure that staff have adequate training.

Support from the NHS Health Check will be tailored based on the individual and their own experiences and circumstances. Support may range from directing women to appropriate online resources with the right information, through to a GP appointment to assess the women’s symptoms further and identify how to best treat and manage them. This will mean eligible women can access high-quality information on menopause more easily.