Dr Paula Briggs

Who Dr Paula Briggs is

Dr Paula Briggs is a Consultant in Sexual and Reproductive Health based at Liverpool Women's NHS Foundation Trust, Crown Street, Liverpool. She served as Chair of the British Menopause Society (BMS) from 2022 to 2024, stepping down after a two-year term when Professor Janice Rymer succeeded her. Her clinical and research focus is menopause management, with a particular specialist interest in urogenital atrophy; she authored the BMS consensus statement on that condition and co-edited the Cambridge University Press reference work 'Managing the Menopause'. She has argued publicly for evidence-based menopause care to be routinely available through NHS primary care, and has spoken in national media — including BBC Breakfast and BBC News — on menopause leave, GP menopause training, and HRT prescribing policy.

References for this biography

1. 1.New BMS chair, Dr Paula Briggs – British Menopause Society — Confirms appointment as BMS Chair at the 2022 AGM
2. 2.Press release: British Menopause Society appoints new Chair – British Menopause Society — Confirms Dr Briggs stepped down as Chair after two-year term in 2024 and her role as Consultant in Sexual and Reproductive Health at Liverpool Women's NHS Foundation Trust
3. 3.Our people – British Menopause Society — Lists Dr Paula Briggs as BMS Chair 2022–2024 in the official roll of chairs
4. 4.Dr Paula Briggs, Consultant in Sexual & Reproductive Health talks menopause – Liverpool Women's NHS Foundation Trust — Confirms her clinical base at Liverpool Women's NHS Foundation Trust and specialist focus on menopause
5. 5.The silent epidemic of urogenital atrophy – British Journal of General Practice (2021) — Evidences her peer-reviewed publication record and specialist interest in urogenital atrophy
6. 6.Consensus statement – Urogenital atrophy – Post Reproductive Health (2022) — Confirms authorship of BMS consensus statement on urogenital atrophy and ORCID 0000-0003-0468-9151
7. 7.Managing the Menopause (2nd ed.) – Blackwell's — Confirms her role as co-editor of the Cambridge University Press clinical reference work
8. 8.British Menopause Society on X – BBC Breakfast appearance, January 2023 — Evidences media engagement on menopause leave, GP training, and HRT prescription charges
9. 9.BMS and ITN Business launch 'Menopause: Misinformation and Management' – International Menopause Society — Confirms her public advocacy role on menopause misinformation as BMS Chair
10. 10.Managing the menopause in general practice – BJGP / PMC (2024) — Confirms institutional correspondence address at Liverpool Women's NHS Foundation Trust and her argument for GP-led, evidence-based menopause care

Notable achievements

• Served as Chair of the British Menopause Society 2022–2024, the first woman to hold the role after a succession of male chairs in that period. Source ↗
• Co-edited 'Managing the Menopause' (Cambridge University Press), a leading evidence-based clinical reference work, across multiple editions. Source ↗
• Authored the BMS consensus statement on urogenital atrophy (2022, reviewed from 2018 original), published in Post Reproductive Health. Source ↗
• Co-authored 'The silent epidemic of urogenital atrophy' in the British Journal of General Practice (2021), raising awareness of the under-diagnosed condition. Source ↗
• Appeared on BBC Breakfast to address the government's rejection of a menopause leave trial, GP menopause training gaps, and HRT prescription charges (January 2023). Source ↗
• Featured as lead interviewee in BMS/ITN Business World Menopause Day campaign 'Menopause: Misinformation and Management' (October 2023). Source ↗

What Dr Paula Briggs has said

• “It depends who the patient presents to, how likely they are to get the right diagnosis. Loads of women will be told they've got thrush.”

  consultant in sexual and reproductive health at Liverpool Women's NHS Foundation Trust · Women's health & gynaecology · 29 Sept 2026 · The unspoken agony of vaginal dryness: ‘I had to give up four jobs in four years’ | Menopause ↗

• “One of the major reasons given by women for discontinuing HRT is the return of bleeding, often requiring further investigation. This dydrogesterone-only treatment, with its favourable endometrial safety profile and predictable, lighter bleeding patterns, gives clinicians another option to personalise HRT to enhance patient satisfaction.”

  NHS consultant in sexual and reproductive health · Women's health & gynaecology · 29 Sept 2026 · Gedeon Richter brings HRT option back to the UK market ↗

• “Age alone is not a contraindication [as to whether contraception is needed]. It's about assessing for risk factors, which include migraine with aura, being overweight, hypertension – but if it's treated, then the patient might still be able to access the combined pill.”

  consultant in sexual and reproductive health · Women's health & gynaecology · 29 Sept 2026 · Key facts to counter online misinformation about perimenopause ↗

• “Everyone thinks they're menopausal. So we are seeing younger and younger women asking for HRT when what they need is hormonal contraception, as they're still fertile. I work in an abortion service and we're seeing more women over 35 now who believe themselves to be menopausal and are gobsmacked when they become pregnant.”

  consultant in sexual and reproductive health · Women's health & gynaecology · 29 Sept 2026 · Misinformation about perimenopause on social media ‘putting women at risk’ ↗

• “Things have gone very wrong. The growing popularity of these tests has led to women having unrealistic expectations about what HRT can offer – particularly around mental illness and the existence of a 'quick fix'.”

  Chair of the British Menopause Society · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · Private menopause tests risk undermining NHS care, doctors say ↗

Where Dr Paula Briggs has been quoted

1. Managing the menopausechemistryworld.com · 30 Sept 2026
2. The unspoken agony of vaginal dryness: ‘I had to give up four jobs in four years’ | Menopausetheguardian.com · 29 Sept 2026
3. Gedeon Richter brings HRT option back to the UK marketpharmaphorum.com · 29 Sept 2026
4. Key facts to counter online misinformation about perimenopausetheguardian.com · 29 Sept 2026
5. Misinformation about perimenopause on social media ‘putting women at risk’theguardian.com · 29 Sept 2026
6. Private menopause tests risk undermining NHS care, doctors saytheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026

Related media coverage

Recent UK press coverage of their topics — not necessarily citing them directly.

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• Your strength workout can double as cardio – experts explain how to get both benefitsWomen's Health

Contact & links

• ORCIDhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-0468-9151published here ↗
• LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/paula-briggs-38658521/
• Staff pagehttps://thebms.org.uk/practitioner/dr-paula-briggs/
• Press office emailsally@transformcomms.co.ukpublished here ↗

Organisational contact points only, each taken from a page the organisation publishes itself. No personal or direct contact details are held or shown.