Now the NHS is quietly removing the word ‘women’ from its MENOPAS page –

The NHS has removed the terms “female” and “female” from its menopause guidelines, despite ministers’ promises to tear down gender-neutral language in medical councils.

Last month, MailOnline explained how NHS Digital has quietly removed all words referring to women from its landing pages for ovarian, uterine and cervical cancers.

The move was condemned by Health Minister Sajid Javid, who said “common sense and the right language” should be used to “give people the best possible care”.

Now MailOnline has found that “women” and “female” have also been removed from official views of menopause specific to biological women.

In its online overview of menopause, the NHS advice included six gender-specific items. But it was updated on May 17 to remove the terms.

Experts have warned that gender-reduced medical advice can be dangerous for women by overcomplicating essential health messages.

NHS Digital, which manages health information web pages, told MailOnline it wants to ensure the language is “inclusive”.

A spokesperson added: “The NHS website provides information for everyone. We constantly monitor Pages to make sure they are using language that is inclusive, respectful and relevant to the people reading them”.

But in the new version, women are excluded from the overview. Experts have warned that women may be handicapped by gender-neutral medical advice that could confuse health messages.

Menopause describes the changes that occur when a woman stops menstruating and is no longer able to become pregnant naturally.

The hormonal changes that occur during menopause can cause a wide variety of debilitating symptoms, including depression, brain fog, and hot flashes.

With increasing awareness of the condition, more and more women are coming forward to seek advice or medication.

The NHS menopause webpage defined the condition as “when a woman has stopped menstruating and is no longer able to become pregnant naturally”.

But the new, gender-neutral explanation states: “Menopause is the interruption of your period due to low hormone levels.”

The old advice also pointed out that menopause usually occurs in women between the ages of 45 and 55, but about one in 100 women experience it before age 40.

However, none of this information is included in the summary section of the updated web page.

The first mention of “women” in the new version is about this. page three is in a section on medications to treat the condition.

Dr. Karleen Gribble, a nursing and midwifery specialist at the University of Western Sydney in Australia, who previously spoke about the dangers of gender-neutral medical language, welcomed the changes.

“At the risk of desexualizing this information, women with little knowledge of English or health may not know that the information applies to them,” she said.

“The first sentence of the old version ‘Menopause is when a woman stops menstruating and can no longer get pregnant naturally’ is really important for women to realize that they need to keep reading.”

He added that the new version of the page violates the “fundamental principle” of health communication, which determines who the information is directed to.

“The fact that some women are illiterate and do not know the basic terms is evidenced by the fact that they added a link to the definition of menstruation in the previous version,” she said.

“When removing the page, they removed the links to more information.”

Dr. Gribble has called for greater transparency from the NHS as to who approved these changes and when.

MailOnline has contacted Mr. Javid’s Health Department for comment.

While services are currently in a storm of “awakening” around gender neutral language about women and pregnancy, deleting terms like breastfeeding, the use of trans-inclusive language in NHS guidance is among persistent concerns.

Some midwives have even learned how to help biological males give birth, even if it is scientifically impossible.

Javid last month denounced the NHS for removing women from its recommendations for ovarian, uterine and cervical cancer, saying it was “not true”.

The term was absent from the landing pages of the three chapters describing cancers found only in biological women.

In a message to patients at the time, she said: “As a health minister, I think your gender is important, I think your biological sex is incredibly important to make sure you get the right treatment. best treatment.

When asked to return the statement, Mr Javid said: “I’ve been researching this and you’ll know, look, the NHS, there are many different trusts and I’d like to hear why someone has a different approach – I don’t know ‘I don’t want to bring this to light but I think I’ve made my point of view on this one clear.

“I know there is a certain sensitivity in this language, but we need to use common sense and the right language so that we can provide people with the best possible patient care,” he added.