A SURVEY OF WOMEN AGED 44-54 YEARS TO DETERMINE THEIR PERCEPTIONS OF MENOPAUSE SERVICES IN PRIMARY-CARE AND COMMUNITY CLINICS

A postal questionnaire survey was conducted to discover levels of sati sfaction with menopause services among a random sample of 1200 women a ged 44 to 54 years living in Renfrewshire (in the West of Scotland). H alf of this general population sample of women returned their question naires (602 out of 1200) of whom 86 per cent had consulted their gener al practitioner (GP) about menopause symptoms. Levels of satisfaction with GP menopause services among these women were high (55 per cent-70 per cent were satisfied or very satisfied). However, a substantial mi nority (approximately 15 per cent) was dissatisfied with their GP's me nopause services and some symptomatic women had not attended their GP because they feared an unsympathetic response or would have preferred to consult a female doctor. The same postal questionnaire was used to assess level of satisfaction among 349 patients who had attended the c ommunity menopause clinic that had recently been established in the to wn of Johnstone in Renfrewshire. Levels of satisfaction with the commu nity menopause service among the 165 patients who returned questionnai res were significantly higher than for GP services (p<0.001 for each a nalysis). Awareness of the existence of the community menopause clinic was low among the general population sample but more than a quarter o f those who were unaware of the clinic expressed a willingness to use the community menopause service.