29 September 2023
By Tony Forde
tony@TheCork.ie
The Menopause Hub was the first medical provider in Ireland solely devoted to helping women struggling with menopausal or peri-menopausal symptoms when it opened four years ago.
Now, due to overwhelming demand, a new Menopause Hub clinic is opening in Ballincollig on October 11 – the third in total.
Loretta Dignam, CEO of The Menopause Hub, which is opening its first Cork Clinic in Ballincollig, on October 12
Picture: Conor McCabe.
Menopause Hub CEO Loretta Dignam – who is one of the headline speakers at the National Menopause Summit in Cork City Hall on October 20, along with TV personalities Mariella Frostrup and Gráinne Seoige – said she decided to open a Cork clinic after being flooded with phone calls from women in the south of Ireland, looking for help.
“I started to get calls last Autumn, when I opened a second clinic in Santry, in north Dublin, so it was obvious there was a demand in Cork and beyond,” she said.
Launched in January 2019, the Menopause Hub has treated more than 7,500 women going through the various stages of menopause.
Common symptoms include hot flushes, night sweats, lack of sleep, problems with memory or concentration (brain fog), vaginal dryness and pain, itching or discomfort and psychological symptoms such as anxiety, depression and mood swings.
Treatments on offer at the Menopause Hub’s clinics include hormone replacement therapy (HRT), non-hormonal remedies, diet and nutritional therapies, psychological therapy and women’s health physiotherapy.
Other services on offer include cervical check screening and Mirena coil fitting and removal, endometrial scanning, ring pessary fitting and vulval and endometrial biopsies.
Ms Dignam said she opened her first clinic in Mount Merrion, south Dublin after discovering for herself the lack of help available to women in Ireland going through perimenopause and menopause.
“For years, menopause has been a taboo subject,” she said.
“No one wanted to talk about it and women were left to struggle on their own.
“But the symptoms can be devastating and if left untreated can destroy careers, relationships and families.”
Research by The Menopause Hub found that almost 40% of perimenopausal or menopausal women seriously considered giving up work because they were not receiving help for their symptoms.
The Menopause in the Workplace Survey 2022 also discovered that an overwhelming majority of the 1,087 women (94pc) quizzed said more menopause awareness training for managers and HR bosses is required.
“The latest census figures show that in just six years, the number of women in the menopausal age bracket who are still in the workforce soared by almost 100,000, from 331,291 in 2016 to 418,989 last year,” Ms Dignam, who launched this year’s survey on September 4, added.
“But women these days are no longer prepared to suffer in silence and many are now, thankfully, getting the help they require to hold down a career and raise their families as they battle against symptoms.”
For more information about The Menopause Hub and this year’s Menopause in the Workplace survey, please visit themenopausehub.ie.