Menstrual Health Info-graphic

Healthwatch Lincolnshire wanted to understand individuals' experiences of health and care services that support people in Lincolnshire navigating a range of menstrual health conditions e.g. endometriosis and menopause. Common themes persisted throughout the report, with service users and professionals raising the same issues. 

For our first campaign of 2024, we decided to focus on menstrual and menopausal health. As part of the Government's Women’s Health Strategy, each Integrated Care Board (ICB) will have a Women's Health Hub. One aim and hope is that these hubs will improve diagnosis times, treatment and support for a range of menstrual health conditions including endometriosis, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and those going through menopause. 

Currently, little is known about the experiences of those in Lincolnshire who have these conditions or are going through perimenopause or menopause. Therefore, to explore this we launched two online surveys one for service users and the other for professionals. We also held four focus groups for professionals.

In total 450 service users shared their views and 18 professionals.
17% Endometriosis
16% PCOS
26% Menopause
26% Perimenopause
13% Other - included post-menopause, PMDD, fibroids.

Common themes persist throughout the report, spanning areas such as endometriosis, PCOS, menopause, perimenopause and other menstrual health conditions. Both service users and professionals raised many of the same issues.

According to the data collected, experiences did not appear to differ based on e.g. whether the individual was, a carer, neurodiverse or which area of the county they lived in. The data did suggest there was a postcode lottery but not in the sense that one area of the county was having very positive experiences, it was much more random with variation with the same PCN.

By far the biggest issues highlighted were not being listened to, not being taken seriously and a lack of interest and knowledge around menstrual health conditions and menopause.