NHS 'male menopause' leave branded 'silly' with guidelines allowing medics to take up to a year of sick pay
3 October 2023, 21:10 | Updated: 4 October 2023, 01:56
NHS guidelines surrounding 'male menopause' leave have been branded "silly" by critics after it was revealed that guidelines allowed medics to take up to a year of sick pay.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
The bizarre guidance remains in place across several NHS trusts - despite its own website describing the concept as "misleading".
The guidelines advise managers to recognise a range of symptoms characteristic of the menopause experienced by women, including hot flushes and emotional changes.
It advises managers that these symptoms can affect men in their 40s and 50s and suggests they provide assistance such as portable fans and different uniforms in a bid to ease symptoms.
The policies were labelled "wasteful" by critics after it was discovered the rules allowed those claiming to take up to a year's paid leave for a "condition that doesn't exist".
Male menopause - also referred to as "andropause" in the guidance, should be addressed in the same way as it would with women.
According to The Telegraph, the rules have allowed men working for East Midlands Ambulance Service to reportedly take up to a year's paid leave for "menopausal-like symptoms".
Tina Richardson, deputy director of human resources at East Midlands Ambulance Service, told the Telegraph: "As well as having menopause guidance we also support anyone within the organisation who is affected directly or indirectly by the andropause.
"We provide occupational sick pay for up to 12 months based on service length.
"That will support absences which may result from symptoms of the andropause or where time off for medical appointments is required."
It's lead campaigners to brand the guidance "silly" with policies that "ignore biological reality".
Following the emergence of the protocols, NHS England denied it was national policy on Tuesday.
Pointing critics to its website, the NHS site contradictorily suggests 'male menopause' is not a clinical condition, instead labelling it "an unhelpful term sometimes used in the media".
