Transform Your Life with The Menopause Couch

Dr Katie Barber BM BCh, MRCGP, DRCOG, DFSRH

Dr Katie Barber has worked as a GP in Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire for over 16 years. During her GP training, after working as a junior doctor in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, she developed a particular interest in Women’s Health, completing the Diploma of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and Diploma of the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare during her training. 

She has worked in the department of Gynaecology at the John Radcliffe Hospital as a GP with a Special Interest in Gynaecology and Menopause where her enthusiasm for helping women manage various aspects of the menopause started. She has been awarded the Advanced Certificate of Menopause Care by the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare and is an Accredited British Menopause Society specialist and Menopause trainer. Katie was Clinical Lead for the NHS Menopause service at the John Radcliffe in Oxfordshire, a tertiary referral centre, until March 2021 when she became the Clinical Lead for the NHS Community Gynaecology Service in Oxfordshire. In 2022 Katie was nominated and successfully elected to the British Menopause Society Medical Advisory Council. 

In October 2020, Katie founded and launched Oxford Menopause, a private Menopause service providing high-quality expert advice and management delivered by British Menopause Society Accredited Menopause Specialists. The service expanded rapidly and now employs a fellow Accredited Menopause Specialist, Dr Helen Kennedy. Helen and Katie have worked together for many years at the John Radcliffe Hospital, both in gynaecology and menopause. In October 2022 Oxford Menopause moved to its new home, The Carriage House, in the picturesque village of Ardington in Southern Oxfordshire. 

As a GP, Katie realised how little training she was given, both at medical school and at a post-graduate level, regarding the menopause and its management. Some women spend almost half of their lives in the peri-menopause and post-menopause, and for some, this has a significant impact on their home life, relationships, working and health. Recent publicity regarding the menopause has successfully highlighted how many women struggle to access support and advice from their GP’s and understand the role of HRT. 

Since developing her knowledge and expertise in menopause care, Katie has realised that it is not ‘one size fits all’ and that tailoring advice/therapy for women who are experiencing issues around the menopause, while providing accurate, evidence-based information and medication when appropriate, empowers women to feel confident in managing their menopause and enabling them to continue a normal, active life, whatever they choose to do. 

Katie also lectures nationally across public and private sector organisations providing education and awareness of the menopause and input into employment resources and policy. She provides teaching to health care professionals including nurses, physician associates, pharmacists, medical students, GP’s and hospital doctors. She has lectured at national conferences and has provided input into parliamentary debate regarding improvements to Women’s Health. 

In her spare (!) time, Katie is married with two daughters and enjoys cooking, baking, running and dog walking..