MENO.pause app launched to help clinicians manage patients’ menopause symptoms

Doctors at UCLH and University College London (UCL) have developed a digital decision-making aid, MENO.pause, to help clinicians manage menopause symptoms in the best way for individual patients’ health conditions.  

The app uses the most up-to-date national and international guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Excellence (NICE), British Menopause Society (BMS) and the British Gynaecological Cancer Society (BGCS) to assist healthcare professionals in GP surgeries and hospitals with providing high-quality, evidence-based treatment options for patients.  

It has been supported by patient groups and menopause organisations and funded by North Central London Cancer Alliance, UCLH Charity, BGCS and an unrestricted grant from GSK. 

The app was developed in collaboration with and hosted on the technology platform Clinibee. This is a platform designed to streamline clinical pathways, referrals, and decision-making in healthcare. 

MENO.pause is designed for use in primary care and hospital settings and will promote improved local access to high quality menopause advice, reducing the need for unnecessary tests or hospital visits. 

During a consultation with a patient, clinicians are guided to answer a series of questions and input information about the patient’s symptoms, medical history, and any known genetic variations. Without the use of artificial intelligence, the app draws on the information received along with the menopause management guidelines to provide options for the patient.  

MENO.pause also supports women who have complex health conditions, providing treatment options for those going through cancer treatment, which may cause early menopause, and for women who have a genetic variation which puts them at higher risk of cancer. For example, for a woman who has had breast cancer, the app will give detailed information on the safety of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and also provide other treatment options that would be suitable for her situation. It also provides information on the length of time treatment should continue, over the counter supplements that can help menopause symptoms and will flag when a GP should refer a patient for further consultation or investigation in hospital. By providing information quickly, without having to read lengthy guidelines, a doctor or specialist nurse can provide a woman with information to help them to decide on appropriate treatment in a timely and less stressful manner.  

The app is also beneficial for less complex menopause symptoms. Some women can struggle with menopause treatments and MENO.pause offers advice on how to optimise HRT treatment. It will also indicate when urgent hospital referral is required, for example, when there is unexpected bleeding, following NHS England’s new Unscheduled Bleeding Referral Guidelines published last year.  

The app is a web-based tool, built using the Clinibee platform, it works alongside existing data systems used within healthcare, such as EMIS. This makes it easy for clinicians to access and incorporate by using the app alongside their usual methods of working during a patient consultation.  

Dr Shibani Nicum, honorary medical oncologist at UCLH and associate professor of oncology UCL, founder and project lead for MENO.pause, said: “We are committed to providing the highest quality menopause care across the country and are delighted to have launched the MENO.pause App, which transforms national menopause guidance into clear, step-by-step decision-making support.  

“MENO.pause, has been built by a national team of experts to help clinicians manage natural, early, and cancer-related menopause, and to deal with complex HRT decisions and unscheduled bleeding as well as providing guidance for those with a cancer risk, for example women who carry BRCA genes, which are associated with breast cancers.

“With up to 13 million women currently going through menopause in the UK and too few trained specialists, the MENO.pause app helps to meet the need for improved access to high quality advice by providing information on a wide range of treatments in one place. We hope that women can really understand and share in decision making around their menopause care.” 

Dr Rini Saha GP, an early user of the app, said: 

“I found MENO.pause very intuitive and it provided an excellent reference site for patients in a primary care setting. The flow decision aids were easy to follow, providing quick guidance to case management, with additional articles that were relevant. The reference tables about over the counter treatments, non-HRT options and prescribing for hot flushes and night sweat symptoms were particularly useful. This certainly has the advantage of having collective information in one place, avoiding the need to search multiple sites.“

Claire McKay, who experienced early menopause after a hysterectomy due to ovarian cancer, said: 

“For me as a patient, the app is a perfect combination of national, expert-led advice but with a personalised touch. It gives you the confidence that you are being advised based the latest data but that you are also being seen as an individual. 

“Had the app been around when I was plunged into surgical menopause it would have made me feel seen and helped reduced the anxiety over navigating the menopause and a barrage of advice at such a young age.” 

Ali Malik, managing director, North Central London Cancer Alliance, said: 

“We were pleased to support the UCLH team through our Innovation Fund, which is designed to foster creative solutions that improve patient care. This app is a strong example of the kind of high-quality, practical tool the fund was created to enable—helping clinicians provide timely, accurate treatment for women experiencing menopause. Importantly, it also supports the specific needs of women affected by cancer: those who enter early menopause as a result of their treatment, and those with an increased genetic risk, ensuring they too receive personalised and appropriate care.”