The type of HRT you are prescribed will depend on factors such as whether you are peri or post-menopausal, if you have a history of breast or endometrial cancer or blood clots, your weight, what your symptoms are and your own personal preference for how it is delivered (e.g., pills, gel, spray, pessaries, or patches). 

If you are still having periods and are in the perimenopause, you will be prescribed cyclical HRT. This will mean you take oestrogen daily, and then progestogen with it for the last 14 days of your cycle. This can also be done on a three-monthly basis with progestogen taken for 14 days every three months. 

If your periods stopped a year or more ago, you are classed as post-menopausal and can take combined oestrogen and progestogen HRT continuously. 

Women who have had hysterectomies to remove their womb only need oestrogen HRT. This is because progestogen is there to protect the womb against endometrial cancer.