Medical Forum
First national clinical guidelines for menopause on the way
National clinical guidelines for perimenopause and menopause are on the way, and health practitioners are being asked to have their say.
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Medical Forum
The guidelines aim to improve the quality, consistency and safety of care for women experiencing perimenopause and menopause, including early and medically induced menopause.
Living Evidence Collaboration (ALEC) at Monash University has been engaged to lead the development of the guidelines, Assistant Minister for Health and Aged care Rebecca White announced last week.
ALEC is currently seeking feedback from health care professionals and people with lived experience about the topics and questions they would like to see addressed in the guidelines.
It has highlighted five key areas for feedback, those that:
- have the highest uncertainty in clinical practice
- have the most inconsistent information
- cause the most difficulty for clinicians
- are changing or have new evidence emerging
- are the most important for people with lived experience.
The guidelines will aim to address diagnosis, assessment and management of menopause and menopause-related symptoms and key long-term health impacts, ALEC said in a statement.
They will also address the early postmenopausal period, including the management of persistent menopausal symptoms and menopause-related health considerations.
Dr Sunita Chelvanayagam, founder of Mount Lawley based Hera Menopause Clinic, said this was a big move forward to give clinicians confidence.
She said since the 2002 Women's Health Initiative trial there had been a fear among GPs and other clinicians around menopause hormone therapy and menopause because there’s no concrete guidelines to anchor themselves to.
“There’s never been any concrete guidelines in Australia and what that means is that people, certainly myself, are just learning from what we see, from outdated studies and guidelines and attending a lot of conferences,” she said.
“Guidelines are always guidelines and people will sit outside of them, but at least it gives people confidence in treating women in this stage of life.”
The guidelines form part of a $2.9 million package over three years announced as part of the 2025-26 federal budget.
They will be developed in partnership with the Australasian Menopause Society (AMS), the Endocrine Society of Australia, Jean Hailes for Women’s Health and the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences.
AMS President Dr Christina Jang said this marked a significant milestone for women’s health.
“The development of nationally endorsed clinical guidelines will help ensure clinicians have access to clear, nationally endorsed recommendations that support best practice care and improve health outcomes for women across Australia,” Dr Jang said.
“Importantly, the guideline development process will also include consumer representation to ensure the perspectives and experiences of women are meaningfully incorporated.”
Menopause and perimenopause are areas where gaps in clinical care persist. A Senate inquiry in 2024 found significant gaps in clinician education, confidence and consistency of care.
It also recommended options be explored to ensure menopause hormone therapy is affordable and accessible to all women who need it.
Dr Chelvanayagam, who was involved in the Senate inquiry, said that education also needed to improve in this space and she hoped the guidelines would provide a basis for this.
“All through training most clinicians would say they get an hour, maybe half a day, on menopause and perimenopause.
“It’s such a profound physiological change which has impacts for ageing, the heart, brain, bones, relationships, workplaces. Every specialty should know about it because it affects every single cell in the body.”
Minister White said the guidelines would continue to be updated as new clinical evidence emerges and changes.
“Women deserve access to trusted information and quality care throughout every stage of life. These guidelines will give health professionals the evidence they need to better support women experiencing perimenopause and menopause.”
There are two separate surveys that will inform ALEC’s development of the guidelines. One for health professionals, researchers and policy makers, and the other for people with lived experience.
People are encouraged to fill out both surveys if they are applicable.
Health professionals can complete the survey here.
People with lived experience can complete the survey here.