Committee update

Published: 01 May 2013

Congress event

The RCN Women’s Health Forum held a learning event on the menopause at RCN Congress 2013 which was attended by 97 delegates. Philomena McCall, a specialist nurse from Belfast, kicked off the event with a general update. This was followed by a lively question and answer session with Philomena, Women's Health Forum Chair and Nurse Consultant in Gynaecology Debra Holloway, and menopause expert Clinical Nurse Specialist Kathy Abernethy. Questions discussed included sex drive and menopause, treatments in young women undergoing ovum donation, alternatives, blood pressure and treatments. Catch up with everything that happened at Congress on the Congress 2013 webpages.

International Women’s Day

The RCN supported this year’s International Women’s Day, which took place on the 8 March. This year’s theme in the UK was preventing violence. Read more at www.rcn.org.uk/diversity

Home pregnancy testing kits: know the facts

The RCN is aware that it has become common practice in primary care in some services to advise women to use home pregnancy testing kits. We cannot comment on the safety or efficacy of any particular test, but self-testing kits like these are covered by EU law and regulated by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), so any tests sold in the UK should meet certain standards. Of course, sales of counterfeit medical devices have been reported.

The MHRA’s advice is to only buy kits from a trustworthy source, and check for a CE mark on the packaging, which means that it meets the regulatory requirements. Read more on the MHRA website.