The British Menopause Society is highlighting the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists’ Menopause Care Special Interest Training Module, a clinician course aimed at learners with an interest in menopause care. It trains participants to assess and investigate women with menopause-related symptoms, understand the benefits and risks of HRT and alternative therapies, and counsel and advise women appropriately.
The Royal College’s Curriculum 2024 Guide for Special Interest Training Module: Menopause Care, dated May 2024, places the module inside the College’s Curriculum 2024 framework. Its capability statements are more granular still: doctors are expected to take relevant medical and lifestyle histories, perform relevant examinations, formulate a differential diagnosis, provide health and lifestyle advice, and address ethnic and trans-cultural issues. The Royal College says special interest training modules offer advanced, focused training in obstetrics and gynaecology.
That detail matters because menopause care often turns on judgement, not a single test. Perimenopause can start before periods stop, and symptoms can overlap with anxiety, thyroid disease, sleep problems and other midlife conditions. A structured curriculum that covers the balance of benefits and risks, the difference between systemic and local treatment, and non-hormonal options is designed to make that assessment more consistent in both primary care and specialist settings.
The access question is just as important as the syllabus. Special interest training modules sit within specialist gynaecology training, so their reach depends on how many clinicians are able to take them up and how widely NHS and private services translate that learning into day-to-day appointments. The pressure on the wider system is already clear: as 2026 began, the Royal College said almost three-quarters of a million women were still waiting for gynaecology care, with inequalities widening.
There is also an institutional push behind the training. The British Menopause Society says it was established in 1989 and describes itself as the specialist authority for menopause and post reproductive health in the UK. The Royal College and the Society also ran a joint online Post Reproductive Health event on 21-22 October 2025, which the Royal College said closely followed the recommended syllabus and was suitable for the theoretical component of the menopause care training.
The result is a clearer professional route into menopause expertise, but the real test is whether enough clinicians complete it to shorten waits for informed support and give perimenopausal women a faster, better grounded response in routine NHS and private care.