Your GP Will Not Prescribe Testosterone: Your Options in the UK

If your GP has said no to testosterone, it is worth knowing that this is common, that it is usually not about you, and that you have not reached the end of the road. Access on the NHS varies enormously by area and by individual clinician, for reasons that have more to do with confidence and local arrangements than with whether you are a suitable candidate.

Why the answer is often no

• •No product is licensed for women in the UK, so every prescription is off-label and the prescriber carries personal responsibility for it. Some GPs are not comfortable taking that on, which is a legitimate position.
• •It is not a common prescription in general practice, so many GPs have simply never done it.
• •Local prescribing arrangements sometimes expect it to be started by a specialist before a GP continues it.
• •Monitoring adds work: blood tests, interpretation and review, which not every practice is set up for.
• •Some genuinely believe the evidence is too narrow, and they are entitled to that view.

What a GP can and cannot do

A GP is permitted to prescribe testosterone off-label to a menopausal woman. Nothing stops them legally. What they cannot be made to do is prescribe something they do not feel competent to prescribe, and you would not want them to. Declining and referring is a reasonable professional response rather than an obstruction.

The routes that remain

• •Ask for a referral to an NHS menopause clinic. They can assess and start treatment, after which your own GP can often continue it. The obstacle is usually the waiting time.
• •Ask whether the practice has a GP with a menopause interest. Larger practices often do, and the answer can differ within one building.
• •Use a regulated private service, where a qualified prescriber can assess you and treat you with monitoring, without a referral or a waiting list.
• •Ask for it in writing if you disagree. A note of the reason is useful, and sometimes clarifies that the objection is procedural rather than clinical.

What not to do

Do not buy testosterone from unregulated online sellers. The dose used in women is small and specific, the products sold to men are not measured for you, and the whole treatment depends on monitoring that you cannot do yourself. This is the one route that is genuinely unsafe rather than merely inconvenient.

Before you go private, one honest check

Make sure the thing you are chasing is the thing testosterone does. It has one well-supported use in menopause and it is not a general tonic, so it is worth reading what testosterone does for women, and what it does not first. If your main complaint is exhaustion, paying for a private testosterone prescription may not be the answer.

How Solene fits

Solene is a nurse-led menopause service. A nurse prescriber can assess whether testosterone is appropriate for you, where clinically suitable, with monitoring included and no referral or waiting list. See what our plans include.