New toolkit aims to improve treatment for women
Most women will eventually hit menopause and a new toolkit launched today hopes to give doctors around the world access to the latest information, helping them to assess and treat women managing menopausal health issues.
Transcript
00:00 Doctors very much want to help women handle the menopause, but our research has shown
00:05 that many doctors feel that they don't have the sufficient skills presently to prescribe
00:13 with confidence. So this toolkit basically gives the summary of the latest evidence to
00:20 support assessing and caring for women at the time of menopause.
00:26 So the symptoms of the menopause are so varied, so individual. How does this toolkit work
00:31 then to guide GPs through it all?
00:35 So we've gone through all the most recent data through what we call a systematic review,
00:42 and we've distilled all the complex information into a series of algorithms or guides that
00:49 the doctor can walk through assessing of this woman's menopausal, what assessments need
00:56 to be done, what tests need to be done, what history needs to be taken, and what are the
01:01 indications for hormone therapy, and if hormone therapy is not suitable, what other options
01:06 are available for the woman. So we've got a complete how to do it manage menopause toolkit
01:12 for any healthcare professional, and it's available for people all over the world.
01:17 Yeah, as you say, it's designed to be used anywhere in the world. How have you adapted
01:20 it to make it global?
01:23 So we're very fortunate, I'm fortunate to have a wonderful team of researchers who have
01:28 gone through all the international literature and summarised it. And basically, I guess
01:33 menopause is the same pretty well all over the world. And we've been very conscious of
01:40 access to different investigations that might be available, but ultimately the care is the
01:45 same.
01:47 So when should women then go and see their GP about the menopause? Or should it be something
01:51 that all women check in with their GP about even if they feel, you know, okay, and they
01:55 have very few symptoms?
01:57 Well, about 30% of women will have severe symptoms, and will need to speak to their
02:04 GP or healthcare provider about management of these. But that means 70% of women won't
02:09 have severe symptoms. But we would still really strongly encouraging all those women to do
02:14 a midlife health check, because there are silent changes that happen at menopause in
02:19 terms of cholesterol changes, bone loss, and so forth, that women need to have reviewed
02:25 so that they're not slipping through the cracks in terms of, you know, excellent healthcare
02:29 around this time.
02:30 And it can make a huge difference to women who have those severe symptoms that you've
02:35 talked about that if she gets the right treatment.
02:39 Absolutely. And the treatment does not have to be hormonal. Not everybody needs hormones.
02:44 But we need to, we've made available all the treatment options for women around this time.
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