Private menopause clinics in London

[JacketPotatoQueen]

Hi all, I am 49 and perimenopausal. I’d like to explore the option of HRT but as I am not experiencing hot flushes (got plenty of other symptoms but not that particular one!) my GP is reluctant to try me on HRT. In particular I am suffering hair loss on my head (thinning all over and some patches where I am pretty bald), and hair growth on my face, great. I’d like to explore the option of going private to see if I can get blood tests to see what is going on. Looked at the London Hormone Clinic but their website says they are not currently taking on new patients, and there wasn’t a waiting list option either (I was fully expecting to have to wait).
Does anyone else have any experience or recommendations for other menopause specialists or clinics in London? Thanks v much.

The BMS has a list of specialists on their website.
I'd drop the idea it has to be a 'clinic' as what you will find is that several gynaecologists with menopause expertise offer what you need.

I hadn’t thought of that, will have a look - thank you!

I'm in London and had an appointment with Newson Health (Dr Louise Newson's clinic - she wrote the book "Preparing for the Peri-Menopause and Menopause" ). Her clinic is in Stratford Upon Avon but they do virtual appointments and then, if needed, you get your bloods taken at a place near Harley Street.

They prescribe the HRT drugs for the first three months and have a distributor called CloudRx who takes payment and delivers the meds to you. They also write to your NHS GP, so technically after the first three months you can ask your GP to fill the prescription as an NHS prescription.

Hope that helps!

If approaching other menopause clinics, it's also worth researching the difference between body-identical hormones and bio-identical hormones. Newson Health only prescribe body-identical. Googled for you:

dralicescott.co.uk/body-identical-hormones-vs-bioidentical-hormones/

@Maremaremare

I'm in London and had an appointment with Newson Health (Dr Louise Newson's clinic - she wrote the book "Preparing for the Peri-Menopause and Menopause" ). Her clinic is in Stratford Upon Avon but they do virtual appointments and then, if needed, you get your bloods taken at a place near Harley Street.

They prescribe the HRT drugs for the first three months and have a distributor called CloudRx who takes payment and delivers the meds to you. They also write to your NHS GP, so technically after the first three months you can ask your GP to fill the prescription as an NHS prescription.

Hope that helps!

@Maremaremare This is interesting. Have you asked your GP to do this? Were they happy to do so?

I have an appt in Feb with Dr Nick Panay in Harley St. He gets rave reviews and was recommended to me by a private menopause GP. But even privately there's a 4-5 month waiting list to see him - although you can see one of his associates sooner I believe.

hormonehealth.co.uk/team/mr-nick-panay/

I did consider a virtual appt with Dr Louise Newson but I prefer face-to-face if possible but more importantly, I'm high risk for breast cancer (family history) so my situation is a little more complex hence wanted a specialist consultant.

Is there another doctor in your practice you can see? I've been on HRT for 10 years now, I'm 59 and my dr wanted me to stop. I did some research and went back to a different doc in the same practice and we changed the prescription but she agreed that staying on it, for me, indefinitely is fine. There are a lot of poorly informed GPs when it comes to HRT, too many have not kept up with the latest thinking about the risks and benefits.

@bestbeforedateexpired I only started the HRT recently, so haven't asked my NHS GP yet, although my GP did read the first letter from Newson Health (which recommended I get the Mirena coil) and contact me to arrange that, so I presume she is on board with the plan.

(My children both see private consultants for various issues so I have provided consultants' letters to GPs a number of times in the past and have not had a problem with the GP writing it up as an NHS script.)

The only drug that is slightly problematic is the testosterone as Androfeme (which is the only version that is made specifically for women) is only available at the moment on a private prescription. If I want testosterone on an NHS prescription I have to switch to a product that's made for men. There is apparently no difference in the formula, but the male version is harder to measure out the correct dose each day.

My mother had lots of issues. Went to see Marilyn Grenville.

Swears she changed her life.

Thanks everyone this is all v helpful. I haven’t yet tried another GP in our practice but that is a good suggestion. And I appreciate the other suggestions too, thank you all. This all seems such a minefield doesn’t it! And perhaps harder than I thought to get medical advice, but there are some great tips from you all that I will try.