Women’s Health Matters
Women’s Health
a presentation by The Women’s Health Clinic
changing lives
of working women all around the world
Female friendly workplace
If this is the sad story of this woman, how many more are there? Suffering in silence! How much of our population are woman and how many of them are 35 and over? Then you can contextualize the problem and the enormity of it.
So we call for employers to take Womens Health at work seriously to check their policies, cultures and work arrangements because women do not leave their health and underlying complications at home, they take them to work.
Many of the women’s underlying common health conditions are see as taboo and they are not spoken about, often a subject of jokes and ridicule … as they are not seen as problems and just a way of life for women.
This just can’t be right!
- Small changes makes big difference
- Its does not last for ever
- Hope is at hand and help is at hand
- And there are plenty of it
- You just have to look and ask
Why do this?
Why is it so important to create awareness and educate?
What do women say? opportunity!
- Time off work
- Embarrassed to discuss with the management
- Women suffer at the peak of their professional career and no one listens
- Supportive culture
- Wellbeing culture not just menopause
- Very little information available
- Listening environment
- Top down support
- FREE health check for women over 45
- Creation of close groups to open sensitive discussions
- Flexible working
- Remote working
- Awareness workshop
How can colleagues help?
- Open communication
- Education on signs and symptoms
- Safe spaces
- Offering help and support
- Compassion
- Signposting for appropriate clinical or HR support
How can HR help?
- Retain talent !
- Be aware of the demography of the female workforce
- Break down barriers to communication
- Ask questions
- Training and CPE / CPD
- Education and awareness
- Open forum
- Encourage one-to-one discussion
- Benefits in kind policy review
- Work life balance policy
- Policy redirection with a key focus on Women’s health
Patient survey
In 2017 we sent a survey out to our patients asking a variety of questions, at the end of the question was a simple question. What would you like to see more of? The results surprised us and highlighted amongst other things a real need for cohesive and comprehensive education of our ladies. Some of the subjects were ones we had not even thought about such as attitudes to pornography, what constitutes consent, what will happen during menopause , and how will my health affect my work?. Our patients were screaming out for help!
Lobbying
From here we were invited to the All Parties Parliamentary Committee on Women’s Health and the recent conference was attended by Endometriosis UK and speakers for a variety of organisations that are directly involved in women’s health . It was very apparent that the outcomes for women with a variety of conditions such as heart disease and stroke were shown to be very different to our male counterparts and it was highlighted that symptoms could be treated quicker and easier if women were educated on what is normal and not.
Open events
We also ran some open events at the Leicester Riverside Festival and a similar event at Santander’s head office in reception to ascertain what ladies really wanted to hear. Issues such as smear test ( fears in the under 25’s regarding HPV and the NHS program), what symptoms should I be worried about, and access to support in the workplace when menopause symptoms arise were quite distressing for some ladies. We were deluged and had to draft in extra help. The response was overwhelming.
Women change
Women are constantly changing. Through puberty to motherhood and on to menopause, our education and medical profession offer a simplified version of what it is like to be a woman. But we change. We evolve. And we all have the same question…Am I normal? A recent survey conducted by The Women’s Health Clinic found that 57% of women do not feel comfortable talking about their female health to the medical profession. From general health to childbirth and menopause, women and their families do not always understand the lifecycle of female health which leads to embarrassment and confusion.
Restricted choices
Our survey found that although 87% went through sexual education at school, the majority agree that better awareness of general female health complaints, common problems with fertility, childbirth and the menopause would have greatly benefited their education. Limited access to female health professionals, nurses and the general appointment system we have do not always fit around the life of a working woman or mother who can feel vulnerable in a ‘treat-all’ GP surgery that tries to solve her changing concerns within a 10-minute appointment. Then, upon turning to the internet, women often find themselves censored from looking for this information as search engines deem our questions ‘adult content’, restricting the expertise of the medical community out there.
Sensationalisation
Magazines, the media and social media often have sponsored adverts and are not always informed by specialists in their field. We have advised and written articles, only to find them sensationalised at the time of print. Think of the recent HRT scare that was actually advocating use of HRT and was delivered as the latest big scare story. Women are very often misinformed or scared to “waste” their GPs time and consequently suffering unnecessarily, as are their loved ones and relationships.
Helping the cause
By creating awareness at workplaces
Our mission is to change lives
We have a huge skill set in our network of nurses, and most, if not all of us are clinical in our areas of expertise. Most of our private services address many of our patient’s needs, except the one for education. Most of my clinical appointments are 45 minutes long with the flagship treatment of the Nu-V laser vaginal rejuvenation only taking 5-10 minutes of that appointment. During that time we get to look at our patient’s entire well being from the presenting complaint, to psychological health, relationships and work life and a lot of the topics covered are relevant to most, if not all women.
We have decided that we should take the bull by the horns and have set-up our own program of education.
This comes in the form of 4-5 20-30 minute overviews of several aspects of women’s health that we will deliver to groups of up to 20-30 listeners. ( These can be run back to back over 3-4 hours to accommodate as many staff in one day as possible)
This will be followed by a 10 minute Q & A session to open dialogue for listeners with a specialist practitioner to answer the questions.
This is not limited to just women, as we have had lots of comments from male partners who want to know how best to advise or support their loved ones.
We also have a new online magazine in the pipeline for people to access this information freely and also have been filming videos with specialist and on a variety of conditions that will be published soon too.
The best bit…..It’s free!
These snippet sessions can each be enlarged to an hour per topic ( a paid for session) with more comprehensive in-depth content to give a deeper advanced level of knowledge to the listener, and can represent a program of commitment by your company to your staff’s health and mental well being and you get the added bonus of many years of expertise in the field and advice for us to help you manage those staff members that may find they need signposting for further support or intervention.
Some of these topics are aimed at HR departments to help them support their staff and highlight any issues that need intervention or signposting.
Our education
Tailor made to suit all HR needs
Educating women to healthier living
- Menopause in the Workplace
- Sleep and Menopause
- Cervical screening & symptoms
- HPV testing
- Sexually transmitted infections: symptoms, diagnosis and treatment
- Breast Self examination
- Breast Cancer
- HRT: Types and methods, Risks and benefits, myth busting
- Hot flushes and management at home and in the workplace
- Anxiety and depression: Is it hormonal, how do I know?
- Menopause and hair loss
- Life after breast cancer ( delivered by a patient of ours)
- Contraception
- Periods
- Vaginal Discharge: What’s normal?
- Consent: The law, what constitutes consent, how do I get help if I have concerns?
- Incontinence: Types and treatments, bladder diaries
- Incontinence: Types and treatments, bladder diaries
- Nutrition, and diet alterations
- Safeguarding adults
- Gynaecology: With our gynaecologist. Lots of symptoms and case studies
- Polycystic ovaries syndrome ( PCOS)
- Use of vaginal dilators
- Libido
- Vaginal rejuvenation: use of lasers, platelet treatments and revolumising/cosmetic gynaecology
- Pelvic Floor Exercises: What are they and why do we need them?
- Endometriosis
- Causes of vaginal and vulval Pain
- Labia: What is normal and healthy?
- Andropause: what happens to men?
- Intercourse: What is normal, why does sensation change, what would make it hurt or could be done to improve this?
- Vaginal moisturisers and lubricants
- Vaginal Atrophy and menopause changes
- Erectile dysfunction; What is it and how can we help this?
- AND MORE….
Your health needs
Help and support
Menopause - HRT and BHRT
Specialist Gynaecology
Vaginal Rejuvenation
Sexual health
Contraception
Mental health
Medical aesthetics
Physiotherapy
Wellness and Nutrition
