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<p>As set out in the Government’s Women’s Health Strategy, improving care and support
for women experiencing menopause symptoms is a priority for the Government. Helen
Tomlinson has been appointed as the Government’s first Menopause Employment Champion
and is working with employers to increase understanding of menopause in the workplace
and support for women. In October 2023 Helen published a report, No Time to Step Back,
which provides guidance to help recruit, support and retain women experiencing the
menopause and stop women considering giving up their employment.</p><p>The Government
has also launched a new online only space for guidance on the Help to Grow website,
providing businesses, large and small, with the resources they need to help educate
their organisation and workers about the menopause.</p><p>In the 2023 Autumn Statement,
the Government published the response to the Occupational Health: Working Better consultation
and set out plans to imminently set up an expert group to support the development
of a voluntary minimum framework for quality occupational health provision. The voluntary
framework will take account of existing initiatives that support those with health
conditions and disabilities in the workplace and aims to set out the minimum level
of quality occupational health provision that employers can adopt to help employees
return to work from sickness absence, and prevent health-related job loss.</p><p>The
Government also announced that it will identify longer-term options to build multidisciplinary
workforce capability in work and health, building on existing work with the sector
and exploring opportunities for businesses and providers to improve support for their
employees. The Occupational Health Workforce Expansion Funding Scheme launched in
July 2023 funds doctors and nurses to undertake occupational health training courses
and qualifications with 99 Doctors and Nurses funded as part of the first round of
applications.</p><p>In terms of frontline health workers, a key focus of the NHS England
National Menopause Care Improvement Programme is the development of a retention programme
for the National Health Service workforce, which is looking at how best to support
menopausal staff and line managers in NHS settings. In November 2022, NHS England
launched Supporting our NHS people through menopause, a guidance document developed
for NHS line managers and colleagues. They have launched two e-learning packages,
for general guidance and occupational health colleagues, and are developing one for
human resources and line managers. A health and wellbeing app, Shiny Mind, is available
to the nursing workforce, and launched a menopause specific section in November 2023.</p>
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