
Dr Anne Henderson
MA MB BChir MRCOGObstetrics & Gynaecology
Practices worked at
About
Anne is a highly experienced Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist. She spent 17 years as a senior consultant at a major acute NHS Trust, following undergraduate studies at Cambridge University and postgraduate medical training in the South East. She is Owner and Director at The Amara Clinic in Tunbridge Wells, which is her new clinical venture due to open in June 2021 after extensive refurbishment. Anne also practices at No 25 Harley Street in London and KIMS Hospital in Kent in addition to her extensive educational commitments at both regional and national levels.
She is passionate about women’s health issues, particularly menopause and HRT, which is now a key health agenda following the publication of the NICE Guidelines. She feels there is a need to expand and improve the existing NHS service to ensure that all women are able to access high-quality menopause care, regardless of postcode or income. She has extensive experience in this field having carried out 4 years’ postgraduate research into menopause and HRT, PMS, and post-natal depression under Professor John Studd, who was the pre-eminent world expert in the field during his career. She then spent several decades in clinical practice during which she set up one of the largest NHS Menopause Clinics in the South East. She is a British Menopause Society Accredited Specialist, a recognition currently held by fewer than 200 practitioners in the UK, acknowledging the higher level of training, expertise, and ongoing clinical workload within this group of specialists.
Anne believes in offering her patients the full spectrum of treatments to help manage peri-menopause and menopause, including complementary therapies such as herbal medicine. She has worked closely with a medical herbalist in Kent for the last 20 years: this collaboration has been highly successful and forms an integral part of Anne’s clinical practice and educational seminars. She believes that the role of complementary therapies, particularly herbal medicine, is greatly under-recognised by most healthcare practitioners.
She is heavily involved in all aspects of education in her field and has organised numerous training and educational days for various public sector employers, including Fire and Rescue and Police Services in Kent, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, and Cambridge: these workshops have received high acclaim. The education program was extended during 2019 to private sector employers including Goldman Sachs and Unilever. Highlights during 2019 include hosting the inaugural regional British Menopause Society Update Day in Kent in September, and keynote lectures to the National Police Menopause Action Group in April, and the inaugural London Fire Brigade Menopause Seminar on World Menopause Day in October. After a delay due to COVID 19, a further British Society Update Day is due to be held in Kent in October 2021, reflecting the great success of the inaugural meeting. She also has an extensive educational track record teaching and training fellow gynecologists, GPs, and Practice Nurses throughout the South East over the last 22 years, which she continues to undertake on a regular basis.
Anne is the Medical Advisor to BRCA Kent, one of the largest support groups for BRCA patients in the UK. Along with the BRCA Kent team, she runs bi-annual multi-disciplinary education and update study days for BRCA carriers and medical practitioners throughout Kent and the surrounding areas and provides ongoing support and education to the group.
In addition to her clinical work, Anne has an extensive medico-legal practice in both obstetrics and gynecology: her interest in this area developed as a result of her experience as NHS Consultant Lead for Obstetric Risk. She finds this a sobering, but valuable, aspect of her varied timetable and believes it is vital that ongoing training, education, and support is offered to the next generation of doctors and midwives in her specialty with the aim of consistently improving the quality of care. In keeping with her interest in medico-legal matters, Anne regularly lectures to lawyers and barristers as part of their CPD update training and is involved in the highly acclaimed 7 Bedford Row Chambers annual “Skeleton Series” of educational seminars.
Anne has published widely in the medical literature including peer-reviewed journals such as the BMJ, The Lancet, and New England Journal of Medicine. Her articles have also featured in the mainstream media including The Guardian, Daily Mail, The Times, and Sunday Times, and in various women’s magazines including Red, Women’s Journal, Good Housekeeping, Women’s Health, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, and Refinery 29. Throughout her career she has been involved in broadcast media as well, having appeared on LBC, Radio 4, This Morning, Radio Kent, and Channel 5 discussing menopause-related matters. Anne is also currently in discussion with Channel 4 regarding a documentary on transgender pregnancy in the UK which will hopefully be filmed and televised during 2022.
Anne has acted as a brand ambassador and medical advisor to various companies, including Bayer, Time Of The Month, TENA, and Elastoplast. She is a Consultant Advisor for the Health & Her website which provides a comprehensive range of complementary, lifestyle, and medical advice for menopausal women. Currently, her main media focus is the collaboration with A Vogel, the highly renowned Swiss healthcare company, which compliments her ongoing enthusiasm for herbal medicine.
Anne was commissioned by Dorling Kindersley to produce a comprehensive holistic guide to menopause and her book, “Natural Menopause”, was published in March 2021(https://www.amazon.co.uk/Natural-Menopause-Remedies-Aromatherapy-Nutrition/dp/0241458528). This book represents a collaboration between hand-picked experts and provides extensive advice for peri-menopause, menopause, and beyond including HRT, herbal medicine, nutrition, fitness, and mental wellbeing.
Diseases, Medical Tests and Treatments
- Outpatient Procedures including Hysteroscopy, Endometrial Biopsy, coil insertion and removal
- Novasure endometrial ablation
- Myosure fibroid and polyp resection (including outpatient procedures)
- Hysterectomy (abdominal and vaginal routes)
- Prolapse surgery
- Menopause and HRT/PMS (British Menopause Society Accredited Spectialist)
- Heavy menstrual bleeding and menstrual disorders
- Vulval disorders
- Pelvic pain including endometriosis
- Vaginal Prolapse and Repair
- Cosmetic Gynaecology
Procedures
- Endometrial Biopsy
- Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT)
- Hysteroscopy
- Intrauterine Device (IUD) Insertion
- Intrauterine Device (IUD) Removal
- Labiaplasty
- Smear Test
- Video Consultation
Special interests
- Menopause
- Adenomyosis
- Amenorrhoea
- Bacterial Vaginosis
- Candidiasis (Thrush)
- Chronic Pelvic Pain
- Heavy Periods (Menorrhagia)
- Hot Flushes
- Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS)
- Pre-Menstrual Syndrome (PMS)
- Premature Menopause
- Premature Ovarian Failure or Insufficiency
- Vaginal Infection
- Vulvodynia
Education
- University of Cambridge - MA 1983
- University of Cambridge - BChir (1986)
- The University of Cambridge - MB (1987)
- MRCOG 1994
- British Menopause Society Accredited Specialist full accreditation 2018