The
Medical Women's Federation was founded in 1917 and is today the largest and
most influential body of women doctors in the UK.
Our aims are to advance the personal and professional development of women
in medicine, to change discriminatory attitudes and practices and to work
on behalf of patients.
Great advances are being made in medicine at the beginning of the 21st century,
and as the number of women doctors rise, women have an increasingly important
role to play in delivering NHS services to patients. This manifesto calls
for fundamental changes to be made to the way in which women doctors are trained
and employed in order to make the most of what they have to offer throughout
their working lives, and to ensure they make as full as contribution to patient
care as they are able to. This is of particular importance at the current
time, when it is recognised that there is a real shortage of doctors in the
UK, and ambitious targets have been set for increasing both numbers of consultants
and General Practitioners.
There are still many areas where women's health needs are not well met; the
persistence of domestic violence and genital mutilation are but two examples
where the MWF continues to campaign at a national and international level
for change.
Supporting flexibility
The Medical
Women's Federation believes that there is an unmet need for family friendly
working practices which take into account that many women doctors will become
mothers and raise families at some stage in their career. At a later stage
many will also go on to have substantial caring responsibilities in their
working lives. The retention and recruitment of women doctors is essential
for the development of the medical workforce - this requires the development
of flexibility at all levels.
Virtually all of those who train flexibly go on to make a long term, often
full-time commitment to patients within the NHS.
These changes are essential to ensure that these talented women are retained
within the NHS, achieve their personal potential, and are able to make their
proper contribution to patient care.
Increasingly, particularly with dual career families, men are also seeking
more flexible patterns of working. Better working practices have the potential
to benefit the whole workforce, and improve the care of all patients. What
changes are needed to accommodate this reality? We call for more flexibility
- in training, in working, and in retirement.
Flexible training
>
A fair pay deal for trainees who train part - time
>Proper
funding for flexible trainee
>A
reduction in the complexity of part-time training to recognise the importance
of acquired
competencies rather than just time
served in a post
>Increased
opportunity for flexible training at SHO and Specialist Registrar level
>Clarification
of pensions for part-time trainees
>Improved
opportunities for career progression
Flexible working
>Hours
of work which take school hours into account where feasible; term time
working if practical without detriment to patient care
>Changes in traditional hours for clinics. Introduction
of evening and weekend sessions
> A flexible approach
to revalidation to ensure that those with skills are able to teach and
supervise, even if they no longer undertake acute clinical work
>A flexible approach
to working conditions of senior hospital doctors, with greater opportunities
for less than full-time work and job sharing
>Proper retainer/returner
schemes in hospital medicine
Flexible retirement
>Flexible
retirement policies to enable senior staff to reduce some aspects of their
work without jeopardising their pension
>Flexible
hours to accommodate those with substantial caring responsibilities,
often those with elderly parent
Supporting the working carer
To support women doctors to achieve their potential
and work for patients we need:
>Increased
maternity pay for non-principals, assistants and returners in general
practice in line with other doctors
>Child
care being made a tax-deductible expense
>Provision of nurseries
for the pre-school children of all working parents
> Hospital nurseries
and creches which recognise the hours that doctors work
Supporting all working doctors
To allow all doctors to make a proper contribution
to patient care we need:
>Adequate
infrastructure support
>Adequate office space
and secretarial support for consultants in all, and especially 'Cinderella'
specialities
>Introduction of more
clerical support for junior doctors in hospitals
>Proper arrangements
for continuing professional development for all doctors in all grades
in specialities, encompassing both clinical and managerial skills
>An end to student
poverty - MWF has direct experience of the hardship of many mature medical
students, and actively supports a number through its bursary schemes
Supporting women patients
We want:
>The
development of supportive approaches to the management of domestic violence
within the NHS
>An end to female genital
mutilation and sexual abuse, both in this country and abroad
>Recognition of the
impact of social exclusion and poverty on women's health
>Women patients to
be able to see women doctors should they so wish in any branches of
medicine
