Around 13 million women in the UK are either peri menopausal or menopausal.
Peri menopause and menopause can come without any symptoms, or with all the symptoms. You might not experience peri menopause and have no menopause symptoms apart from the absence of periods.
Peri menopause is the transition period to menopause, which is the absence of periods and ovulation. You can check out more information and FAQs about peri menopause here.
What is Hormone Replacement Therapy?
HRT is medication that can help alleviate peri menopause and menopause symptoms, by replacing oestrogen and progesterone. These are the hormones that fluctuate and fall during peri menopause and menopause.
HRT comes in a number of different formats, including gel or spray applied to your skin, patches and tablets.
Why is HRT in short supply in the UK?
The number of HRT prescriptions issued has been on the up since 2015, however, the most significant rise was from 2021 to 2022.
The NHS Business Services Authority has an interesting overview on its website of HRT from 2015 to 2023, with a staggering 11 million items prescribed in 2022-23, an incredible 47% increase from the previous year, 2021-22.
Davina McCall has been a trailblazer in proudly and positively discussing peri menopause and menopause in the open, which is understood to be a big reason for the leap in the number of prescriptions issued to help with HRT symptoms.
In April 2023, a new HRT-only pre-payment certificate (PPC) was introduced, which could be another contributor to the rise in prescription volumes. Prescriptions are really expensive, with the current prescription charge £9.65 per item. The HRT PPC costs just £19.30 for 12 months, making it incredibly affordable compared to individual prescription charges.
Other reasons for the shortages include manufacturing capacity, a poor understanding of the demand for HRT medication and disruption in global supply chains.
What happens if I can’t get my HRT prescription?
I had a panic recently when I wasn’t able to get my usual prescription of oestrogen gel sachets. I ordered a repeat prescription on the myGP app like I do each month. I waited the standard three working days to go to the pharmacy to pick up my items, but when I did so, my usual pharmacy said they were out of stock with no estimation of when they might be able to get hold of them.
I panicked because the pharmacy staff said there’s a “nationwide shortage” and no indication of when that might stop. I took my prescription to another pharmacy, who didn’t have my dosage but they did have a different dosage.
So I went back to the GP surgery to ask them to reissue the prescription.
This sounds like it should be pretty easy to do, but honestly it took almost a week to get it, by which time I had cut back on my fast-depleting stock of oestrogen gel sachets.
My cold night sweats had started to return as a result of me cutting back on the HRT dosage. I felt disgusting and embarrassed when the cold night sweats came back and worried a bit more about the elusive oestrogen gel sachets, which unsurprisingly didn’t help.
I finally got the amended prescription, and went to the pharmacy, praying all the way that they still had the stock of the different dosage.
Thankfully the lovely ladies there had set some aside for me, and I now have enough for the next month.
However, the panic did make me reflect on how I might manage this situation again, and here’s what I will do differently when the supply shortage is an issue another time: