Hot off the heels of the documentary Davina McCall: Sex, Myths and the Menopause, our Deputy Director of Communications and Engagement, Hazel Melnick, has written about why it’s important for everyone’s wellbeing that we have conversations about menopause and don’t allow it to continue being seen as a taboo subject.

I was out running at the weekend and listening to a podcast by Brenḗ Brown, talking about courageous leadership – how it was one of the biggest skills we needed. It was heartening to know you can in fact become courageous, it’s not purely an innate quality; and to achieve it, we need to be vulnerable. So here goes. I am exposing myself to you all … and, honestly, I feel pretty naked.

Those who know me know I love the heat – 32 degrees on a sunbed by the ocean is my happy place; most definitely not to be confused with the searing heat of the internal volcano erupting (hopefully you get the ‘Edna’ play on words now) that is the ‘hot flush’.

And it happens a lot, certainly too often to hide now. As people’s pets have become regular guests at virtual meetings, so too has my fan; often met with laughter until the younger among us were reminded that their partners were unlikely to go unscathed, putting them at risk of becoming collateral damage at some point. Not so funny now is it??!

Because the truth is dealing with perimenopause and menopause can, for some women, actually become so debilitating that life is a real struggle; and for the rest of us, certainly not without any impact. For me personally, monthly hormonal issues have for many years been a challenge (apparently your friends’ husbands and your work colleagues shouldn’t know it’s ‘that time’) so the demon that takes over my body and mind is not a new house guest, although certainly one that has outstayed its welcome, as have others.

I’m also now pretty (ok, extremely) concerned about those who might show up any day, from osteoporosis to my vagina falling out. Yes apparently it can prolapse. Now my medical colleagues are probably rushing to correct my description – and that’s the thing. The level of support and information within our current healthcare and education systems is seemingly pretty scant. My own experiences in both primary and secondary care were a joke. And yet being able to talk seriously about these things and learning about what may or may not happen, what to look for, how you can help prevent it, what options are available to you – these aren’t nice to haves – they are have to haves.

Davina McCall’s programme highlighted how around 13 million women are suffering to some degree across the UK – and there are only 97 specialist clinics. I mean – seriously???? Also highlighted were the incredibly disappointing facts that apparently training for GPs is a non-mandatory module; and there is hardly anything available to deal specifically with this issue across cultures where it’s even harder to be open about such matters. At least this time my anger and tears were not hormonally driven.

So while I genuinely have palpitations at the impact of a prolapse and my vagina dislocating from its current position, crucially I’m aware about it and know what to do to help prevent it – and that’s all thanks to a Trust event some time ago before Covid struck.

With 77 per cent of the Trust’s workforce being female, we genuinely ignore the menopause and its effects at our peril. I am delighted that our Wellbeing team is looking into restarting more formal events and developing a policy; and I’m grateful to the Women’s Network for supporting my suggestion of informal support groups where we can drink coffee/wine, talk, learn from each other’s experiences, vent about the lack of understanding. We can’t change healthcare and education overnight – so having people to talk to who know what you’re going through, can share ideas of what has or hasn’t worked for them, and be aware of what to look out for so you feel informed, really does go some way towards the panacea.

A colleague at another trust told me they have menopause listed as a formal reason for absence on eSR because they recognise there are times when some women need the day off - wow! This is the kind of support we need to aspire to at our Trust.

Because – and here’s the thing we really need to remember – if we can manage to do our jobs well while we’re suffering and lacking so much information and support, just think how utterly fabulous we’d be if we had this in place. It can only be a great thing for our Trust, for patient care, and, as one of the network members noted, a great selling for point for local women in our community who are considering our Trust as a place to come and work.

Literally it’s a no-brainer.

I’ve found talking about this to be rather cathartic and liberating, and we need to keep the conversation going for women and also for men – because they also need to understand what it’s all about and learn how they can help support their teams. There are so many elements and angles to cover off that would make for humorous, poignant, marginally scary, informative, entertaining, educational, inspiring, and incredible conversations – the list goes on.

So convinced am I of the need for this, I’ve decided to do a podcast. I can already hear the conversations in my head….and honestly, they really shouldn’t be missed! Get in touch with me by email or Tweet me if you’d like to be my guest.

And, for our Trust, our staff, our patients and our communities, let’s keep talking about Edna.