A menopause conference is being held this year on how places of work can put in place essential support for people going through the menopause.
Within South Yorkshire nearly 34,000 of the 72,000 people working in the NHS and Social Care sector are women of the age group who are typically affected by the menopause.
Senior leaders from across health and social care in South Yorkshire are invited to discuss what sort of support employers could put in place.
Christine Joy, Chief People Officer at NHS South Yorkshire, said “Our workforce demographic means that supporting people with menopausal symptoms is not a nice to do, it is absolutely essential. Providing appropriate awareness and support is key to the health and wellbeing of our people and the quality of care they provide. Menopausal symptoms that are not identified and treated can affect the person and also their family, friends and colleagues. As a leading employer in South Yorkshire, we want to ensure that our colleagues, managers, and leaders have awareness of the impact of menopausal symptoms so that we can provide the necessary support in the workplace.”
The South Yorkshire Health and Wellbeing Hub, part of South Yorkshire Integrated Care System, are hosting the conference as part of their menopause programme. The day follows ‘Menofest’, two half day events which took place last year attended by 550 colleagues working in health and social care including their friends and family. This innovative approach included awareness sessions, dance flash mob and stalls hosted by local businesses.
Brigitte Kaviani, Head of Health and Wellbeing at NHS South Yorkshire, said “There are huge numbers of our workforce who are benefitting from our menopause programme of activities in very a short space of time– but our menopause mission is about more than large numbers.
“We want to make a difference to people’s lives, change people’s mindset which will lead to changing workplace culture.”
Building on this momentum, NHS South Yorkshire is committed to increasing the awareness of menopause and highlighting the support available for the NHS and Social Care workforce across the region, alongside creating a menopause friendly culture, retaining valuable skills and talent with our workforce, and improving the health and wellbeing of our teams.
The Menopause Conference has been organised to bring together senior leaders in our health and care system together to discuss the best ways to do this.
The conference is focused on the importance of developing a menopause policy and how menopause related sickness absence can be reduced. Further topics include how to become a menopause friendly employer and reflections on lived experience from members of NHS England’s Menopause Network. Both regional and national NHS senior leaders will be presenting, including Jacqui McBurnie, Chair of NHS England Menopause Network, Claire Parker, Senior Programme Lead for Health and Wellbeing at NHS England, and Dr Marion Sloan, General Practitioner in South Yorkshire and Menopause Advocate.
More information about the South Yorkshire menopause programme, available to all NHS and Social Care colleagues, can be found on the South Yorkshire Integrated Care System’s website here: https://syics.co.uk/workforce-wellbeing/menopause-support-and-resources-health-and-staff