Now an NHS Trust gives staff a year of paid leave for ‘male menopause’: Health chiefs issue guidance stating men can receive 12 months of sick pay for menopausal-like symptoms
- Managers have been told they should provide additional uniforms to male staff
An NHS Trust is set to give male staff up to 12 months of paid leave if they suffer menopausal-like symptoms.
East Midlands Ambulance Service chiefs have reportedly been told to give consideration to ‘male menopause’ – which is triggered by a drop in testosterone levels.
Managers at the Trust have been told they should provide additional uniforms, portable fans and change shift patterns to assist male staff members experiencing this.
Male menopause, which doctors admit is a bit of a misnomer, is medically known as the andropause. Unlike the menopause experienced by women, andropause is marked by a more gradual change.
As with women, the term is used to describe the period in an adult man’s life when his hormone levels crash, causing a host of symptoms including erectile dysfunction, depression, anxiety and rapid fat gain.
Managers at the Trust have been told they should provide additional uniforms, portable fans and change shift patterns to assist male staff members (file image)
In written guidance, hosted online by NHS Employers – the health service’s employment body – the trust says that male staff should not be made to feel embarrassed about suffering menopause-like symptoms.
In contrast to the menopause women experience, andropause can happen throughout large periods of a man’s adult life.
Tina Richardson, deputy director of human resources at East Midlands Ambulance Service, told The Telegraph that male workers are eligible for up to a year of paid leave for andropause symptoms.
She said: ‘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.’
East Midlands Ambulance Service chiefs have reportedly been told to give consideration to ‘male menopause’ (file image shows an East Midlands Ambulance Service vehicle)
The entitlement to sick pay comes despite a senior NHS source telling the newspaper that male menopause was ‘not clinically recognised’.
They also said there was no national guidance on how trusts should support those facing andropause.
While menopause symptoms have been well documented in recent campaigns, including by celebrities such as Davina McCall and Louise Minchin, andropause is less openly discussed.
East Midlands Ambulance Service has been approached for comment.
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