Menopause start-up extends NHS partnership and expands digital clinic

A menopause health start-up has extended its partnership with the NHS in order to help expand its digital clinic for women’s health.

Bia Care was the first of its kind to partner with the NHS last year, and additional funding means it can now expand the availability of its digitally-enabled women’s health clinic.

The company is able to connect women to menopause specialist doctors using group consultations, which improves the doctor to patient ratio and means up to six times more patients are treated. Results from the NHS pilot trial showed that the service model delivered clinically effective services at a fraction of the cost of a traditional menopause clinic.

Sucheta Lyengar, an NHS consultant and menopause clinical lead, said: “With a growing awareness of the struggles women face due to the menopause, there is an increasing need for professionals trained in menopause care to provide this service.

“Unfortunately, there is an inadequate number of such professionals and there aren’t enough to meet this burgeoning demand. Bia Care is able to reach more women by offering group consultations, so that women can harness the power of peer support, and at the same time allow them to have tailored and individualised treatment plans.”

Bia Care aims to deliver high quality women’s menopause healthcare through technology. With the UK having the largest female health gap across all G20 nations, the NHS is actively looking for new approaches to delivering menopause care to address the existing problem of expensive and unscalable options.

Fernanda Dobal, CEO and co-founder of Bia Care, added: “We are so excited to be expanding the partnership with the NHS following the successful pilot in 2021. The funding is going to be used to expand our service to 100 more NHS patients. We know that by partnering with the NHS we can help transform many women’s lives for the better to help them manage and reduce symptoms.”

Recent Pictchfest winner, Peppy Health has recently underlined how women are seeking more help to manage the menopause. Its analysis of Google search data pointed to female employees welcoming enhanced support from their employers.