Every
month the Honorary Secretary produces a newsletter detailing MWF news, upcoming
events and other bits of information that might be of interest to women involved
in medicine. The newsletter is posted on our website and sent round as an
e-newsletter to those members who have requested it.
For extracts of our latest newsletter see below.
December 2011
A very happy Christmas and a wonderful New Year
to you all.
Meeting with the GMC
A few weeks ago, Drs Clarissa Fabre, Sally Davies, Beryl De Souza and Prof
Selena Gray met with the GMC. This was the second of what will be regular
6 monthly meetings, chaired by Paul Philip. Subjects discussed included Revalidation
and problems this might pose for certain groups of doctors (those on career
breaks, locums, sessional doctors, retired doctors); costs of remediation
and who will bear this; Whistleblowing and the GMC proposal for a confidential
helpline for doctors; Fitness to Practice panelists and ways of increasing
the proportion of women doctors; treatment of suspended doctors; Workplace
Based Assessments (WPBAs) – GMC will issue a clarification statement
for the Colleges that doing the same number of WPBAs over a 12 month period
would place an unacceptable pressure on LTFT trainees and lead to assessment
taking up a disproportionate amount of the learning time available. Heads
of all the relevant departments in the GMC were present at the meeting. We
are delighted that Una Lane, Director of Revalidation will be speaking at
our Spring meeting in Colchester on 11 May 2012. We are delighted and applaud
the reduction of fees by the GMC for all doctors. We hope the Royal Colleges
may be able to follow suit!
CMO Annual Follow-Up Meeting for Women Doctors: Making a Difference
As a member of the Working Group, Dr Fabre attended this meeting in November.
The most important victory achieved is Dame Sally Davies’ commitment
to supporting women in clinical academia so that they can develop into and
be appointed to senior leadership positions. A condition for short-listing
for the next funding round for Clinical Academic trainees (academic/NHS partnerships)
will be that the academic partner (generally the Medical School/ Faculty of
Medicine) has achieved at least the Silver Award of the Athena SWAN Charter
for Women in Science. These Athena Awards recognise and celebrate good practice
on recruiting, retaining and promoting women in Science, Engineering and Technology
in higher education and research. When MWF next meets the Chair of the Medical
School Council (MSC) in the new year, this subject will be high on the agenda.
Dame Sally will also discuss with the MSC the matter of loss of maternity
leave entitlements when entering a university post. It was suggested that
perhaps the DOH should help to make up the shortfall, or that this should
form part of the Silver Athena Award.
MWF Essay Competition—Win £200
MWF’s annual essay competition is now open. Medical Students are invited
to submit a 600-800 word essay on one of the two questions: 1) From Marilyn
Monroe to Kate Moss – what are the clinical and social implications
of the changes in our perception of beauty? or 2) How should medical students
interact with social networking sites? A first prize of £200, second
of £100 and third of £50 will be awarded for the best three essays
on each topic. Further instructions to students are attached along with a
cover sheet. Deadline for entries is 16th March 2012.
Implementation of Clinical Research in Clinical
Practice
The European Research Council produced an interesting report in May 2011 entitled
Implementation of medical research in clinical Practice. To download a copy
for yourself log onto www.esf.org/publications/forward-looks.html.
NHS Pension Scheme Calculator
The Department of Health is publishing pension calculators for NHS Pension
Scheme
members to support their understanding of the proposed changes in pension
relating to the Hutton reform. The calculators have been produced with actuarial
support. Check the website for calculators for consultants and GPs http://www.dh.gov.uk/health/2011/11/calculators/
