Menopause is not only experienced by women, NHS draft guidance claimed

The Government will question health officials for producing draft NHS guidance, which claims not everyone who experiences the menopause is a woman.

NHS England on Wednesday published a 17-page draft of a booklet online, which was titled the “national menopause people policy framework”.

It was swiftly withdrawn, amid an outcry over the language it used and the focus placed on those other than women.

The policy, which would apply to NHS employees in England, detailed what help is available to women in the workplace and how staff and managers can support their colleagues.

One section said: “It is important to note that not everyone who experiences menopause is a woman.

“Transgender, non-binary, and intersex colleagues may also experience menopause and will have specific needs.”

The draft document has been swiftly deleted, with NHS officials claiming it was published in error ahead of a final version being published online next month.

A source close to Victoria Atkins, the Health Secretary, said the matter will now be raised directly with NHS England.

Ms Atkins recently expressed frustration with attempts by the NHS to erase women from their language, criticising the use of terms like “chestfeeding” and “birthing person”.

The source said: “The Secretary of State has been crystal clear that biological sex matters and that it’s important that language – including language used by the NHS – recognises the different biological needs of men and women.

“That is really not an unreasonable expectation.”

Sex-based language

It comes after Ms Atkins criticised the University of Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust (USHT) last month for saying breast milk produced by trans women who were assigned male at birth is as good for babies as that produced by a mother who has given birth.

Before that, the health service was found to be using the term “chestfeeding” in place of breastfeeding.

“I’m a mum, I find it extraordinary that a trust thought this was an appropriate use of their time,” she told The Telegraph in an interview and suggested that such services would do better to concentrate on tackling long gynaecology waits.

She added: “Half the population are women. Of course the NHS should use the word ‘woman’.”

“When I see reports of mothers as ‘people who give birth’. No – they are mums,” she said.

LGBT+ campaigners say that trans women can experience less severe menopause symptoms if they lower their estrogen dose in hormone treatment as they age.

However, critics say the NHS must use sex-based language for a problem that mostly affects those born as female.

Elsewhere in the menopause booklet, managers were urged to attend “menopause awareness training” and consider if reductions in a colleague’s performance or attendance could be down to the menopause, MailOnline reported.

It also provided suggestions on how to help women with physical symptoms, such as allowing them to change their uniform, control the air conditioning temperature or move to a desk near a window.

An NHS spokesman said: “This draft guidance was briefly published in error. The NHS is working on an updated policy for staff on menopause, which will reflect clinical guidance and the law.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: “We have been clear that biological sex matters and it is important to use language that recognises the separate health and biological needs of men and women.

“It is important that we provide health information in a language that is appropriate so everyone can get the help they need when they need it.”

The Telegraph understands the department is working with the NHS to make “biological sex front and centre for all sex-specific conditions” on the health service’s website.

In January, Davina McCall, the TV presenter, hit out at separate draft menopause guidelines from health chiefs that urged GPs to consider offering women cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) to treat hot flushes either instead of, or in addition to, HRT.

She said the proposals from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) were “patronising” and too negative about HRT, after her own campaigning led to a surge of women seeking hormone therapy.