Menopause prevents 60,000 women in England from working, report finds
Approximately 60,000 women in the UK are not working due to debilitating menopause symptoms such as hot flushes and insomnia, a new report has found.
The investigation, which comes from the NHS Confederation, revealed that the high numbers of people who have left employment had a direct economic impact of around £1.5 billion per year. In addition, the estimated cost of time off due to severe period pain and heavy periods, as well as endometriosis, fibroids and ovarian cysts is nearly £11 billion annually, illustrating the dramatic need for more investment into female health care.
Of those with long-term physical- or mental-health conditions, 83% of women said that menopause negatively impacted their impact to perform daily tasks such as going to university or school, work for a family business, look for work, or care for the family and home. Getting the healthcare women need to help can be profoundly difficult: currently in the UK, 750,000 women are on NHS waiting lists for gynaecology services.
Local authorities in England with higher ethnic diversity had poorer access to women's health services, and worse health outcomes for women were found to be more prevalent in areas with higher levels of deprivation.
The report advocated for additional spending on women's health, illustrating that for every extra £1 of public investment in obstetrics (the study of pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period) and gynaecology services per woman in England, there would be an estimated return on investment (ROI) of £11. The economy could therefore benefit from an additional £319 million in total gross value added (GVA).
Menopause usually affects women between the ages of 45 and 55, though it can happen earlier. About 4.5 million women in the UK are menopausal.
What changes are being recommended?
Researchers are urgently calling for several ways to close the gender health gap, including:
Allocating funding specifically to support the remaining eight years of the Women's Health Strategy for England;
Distributing more funds to 'variations in need' throughout the country;
Appointing a women's health ambassador for improving outcomes for black, Asian and minority ethnic women; and
Committing to a yearly increase in public research funding to conditions that affect men and women differently or disproportionately, in addition to those that affect just women.
Speaking to The Times, Dr Layla McCay, director of policy at the NHS Confederation, said: 'This report highlights the urgent need for sustainable funding to support the ten-year Women’s Health Strategy for England, and women’s health more broadly.' She underscored funding women's health services as an 'economic imperative that has far-reaching benefits across our society.'
Professor Geeta Nargund, senior NHS consultant and founder of Create Health Foundation, which promotes women’s reproductive health, said: 'Our report’s findings are unequivocal: the disparity in gynaecological care represent a pressing public health challenge that is directly impacting our economy.
'Severe period pain alone costs the UK £3.7 billion annually in absenteeism, while severe perimenopause and menopause symptoms...result in £191 million in lost productivity a year.
'It is essential that the government prioritises funding for the 51% of our population. This is a crucial step not only in closing the gender health gap but also in achieving economic prosperity for our nation.'
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