MWF acknowledges the EWTD has shortened training time. There is need for more evidence to show if there is compromise in patient safety and training if the EWTD reducing working hours to 48 hrs per week is instigated (1,2). We would like to ensure that Deaneries support the Royal Colleges and provide training for the trainers and for the trusts to ensure that both the trainees and trainers have adequate time for training to take place. It is without doubt that service will have been affected as long on call shifts are no longer possible. How much of this was training needs proper evaluation. Considering our flexible training members, there will have been only a small reduction in their hours due to EWTD and its introduction may enable some to work at higher percentages. Training is now competency based rather than time based.
Our primary concern is that the Royal College of Surgeons statements (1,2) regarding surgical specialty opt out of the EWTD should not in any way deter our female medical students and junior doctors from pursuing a career in surgery.
References
1. BOTA position statement on the European Working Time Directive and training in trauma and orthpaedic surgery – British Orthopaedic Trainees Association . January 2008.
2. The impact of EWTD on delivery of surgical services: A Consensus statement. Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland. November 2008. http://www.asgbi.org.uk/en/publications/consensus statement.cfm.
The MWF, funded by the Women and Equality Unit, has been researching ways
to facilitate part-time working in the medical profession. The research consisted
of interviews and focus groups with part-time doctors of all grades and specialties
throughout the UK as well as representatives from the Royal Colleges, Deaneries
and HR. Our summary document was published on the 19th of June and the full
report can be found by clicking
here>>
Dr Clarissa Fabre, MWF President-Elect had her response to this question published in Pulse News, 4th February 2009. The article can be accessed via Pulse's website if you have a username and password by clicking here: www.pulsetoday.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=20&storycode=4121741&c=2 or you can download a copy in word here>>
After MWF's Autumn Meeting 2008, BMA News ran two pieces on the meeting and its speakers, copies of which can be seen by clicking here>> and here>>.
Ms Tamzin Cuming, MWF member and winner of this year's Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Prize at MWF's Autumn Meeting 2008, designed a poster on the Work-Life balance a copy of which can be seen by clicking here>>.
Dr Amanda Owen, editor of Medical Woman contributed to a recent Radio Phone-In on BBC Radio Wales on the topic 'Why do women get paid 17% less than men?'. Also appearing on the programme was Dr Katerine Rake, director of Fawcett Society and speaker at MWF's Autumn Meeting 2008.
Fiona Cornish wrote about her experiences and the issues facing women doctors in an article on the careers of female GPs that appeared in Pulse News, 10th September 2008. You can read a copy of the article by clicking here>>
Dr Susan Overal wrote her response to the above question in an article that appeared in Pulse News, 10th September 2008. You can read a copy of the article by clicking here>> (Unfortunately this article is available to registered users only).
There has been much in the press recently about there being too many female medical students and graduates. The Medical Women's Federation has been representing women doctors and their patients for over 90 years. When it was founded in 1917, it was very difficult for women to get into medical school, and their subsequent careers were also fraught with problems.
Although the situation regarding access to medical training has now been dramatically reversed, there are still many difficulties in the way of female doctors who wish to combine childbearing with a medical career. This explains the comment made by Jane Dacre on radio 4 about attrition - how the women who graduate from medical school are less likely to progress in their careers than their male counterparts. We have heard people describing women wanting to have children and a career as "Having their cake and eating it" but as Cherie Blair once famously said, we think of it as a juggling act.
Women are getting their places at medical school on merit. Are people really suggesting that well qualified, clever and motivated women should not have access to this worthwhile and rewarding career?
Surely it is the job of all of us to help them overcome the problems they face rather than just planning to reduce the numbers of women facing the problem. The MWF and many of the representative bodies in medicine, such as the colleges, have been having discussions with the Chief Medical Officer and the Department of Health to make plans to cope with the rise in the population of women doctors and would like to point out that we prefer to look upon the situation as a challenge rather than a problem.
MWF President-Elect Dr Fabre made her contribution to the 'Valuing GP Campaign', which ran in GP magazine. You can read a copy of the article by clicking here>>
To comemorate MWF's 90th birthday, Honourary Secretaries Dr De Souza and Dr Ramsay wrote an article published in BMJ Careers on why it is still relevant today. You can read a copy of this article by clicking here>>
For all press enquiries please contact Central Office on:
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Tavistock House North, Tavistock Square, London, WC1H 9HX admin.mwf@btconnect.com Tel: 020 7387 7765
