Articles/pulications
by MWF Officers and Members. For all
press enquiries please contact Central Office.
Health and Social Care Bill Press
Release from President Clarissa Fabre, February 2012
The
Health and Social Care Bill in England, even as amended so far in the House
of Lords, will set the NHS up as a market and will lead to fragmentation of
services rather than collaboration. Women form the majority of NHS employees.
They are also higher users of the NHS because of their longevity and childbearing
capacity. It has been suggested that many services may well become chargeable,
for example antenatal and postnatal care and sexual health services which
include contraception.
Women are therefore particularly likely to suffer if this bill is enacted.
For these reasons the Medical Women’s Federation calls on the government
to withdraw the bill and genuinely work with the medical, nursing, midwifery
and allied health professions to make the changes needed to cope with the
increase in the number of elderly people, medical advances and austerity.
The bill does not address any of these issues and rather than reduce bureaucracy
it seems set to increase it with consequent unaffordable costs.
MWF
has responded to two articles in the BMJ in January 2012. Click here to read
a copy of our press statement>> As
has been reported in the national and medical press in the Daily
Mail, Independent
and the BMJ,
women doctors are set to overtake men by 2012.
MWF welcomes the meritocracy which has allowed
women in medicine to achieve equality. We recognise the implications on the
medical workforce of the increasing number of women doctors and understand
the need to retain valuable women doctors throughout their careers. We want
to ensure that there is flexibility in the work structure, which allows women
to contribute to their full potential, while supporting them through the child
bearing years. We
wish to promote good availability of childcare facilities, mentoring and encouragement
of women into leadership roles. We support the end of the gender pay gap,
so well demonstrated by Dr Anita Holdcroft in her study. As
Prof Jane Dacre said, women are not taking over, just achieving equality.
It’s not a crisis, it’s just the new status quo.
Not
Taking Over Just Catching Up
MWF
President Dr Clarissa Fabre's was interviewed by MDDUS's publication about
the role of women in general practice Click
here to read a copy>>
Female
GPs are first victims of cuts
President-Elect Dr Fiona Cornish wrote
this opinion piece for Pulse Magazine in March 2011. Click
here to read a copy>>
Women Doctors and on-call cover chaos
MWF
President Dr Clarissa Fabre's letter to Pulse Magazine on conflicts of interest
was selected as letter of the week. Click
here to read a copy >>
THE
FEMALE FACTOR - The Changing Face of Medical Care
MWF features heavily in this article
that appeared in the New York Times and the International Herald Tribune.
Members featuring include President-Elect Dr Fiona Cornish and Honorary Secretary
Beryl De Souza. Click
here to read a copy>>
Women Doctors and on-call cover chaos
MWF
President Dr Clarissa Fabre had a letter published in the Guardian on 15th
November 2010 on the issue of on call cover and maternity leave. Click
here to read a copy >>
Women in Medicine in the Press May 2010
There were several articles
in the press in May 2010 about the number of women entering medicine. MWF
President Dr Clarissa Fabre put forward the case for MWF as did Leigh Regan,
MWF’s Student Representative at Peninsula Medical School. Articles
appeared in the Daily Mail, Sunday Times and Dr Fabre also participated
in an interview on Women’s Hour, as did MWF members Prof. Jane Dacre
and Miss Helen Fernandes. Links to all of these can be found below. Some
of the comments from other readers make for interesting reading, but they
do not necessarily represent the views of MWF!
Daily Mail Article 4th May 2010
www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1271353/Women-doctors-safer-So-medical-chiefs-worried-them.html
The Sunday Times Article 9th May 2010
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/features/article7120486.ece
Response to the Sunday Times Article 16th May 2010
/www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/article7127660.ece
Interview on Women’s Hour – from 9 mins 45
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00s8hz2
MWF
Response to the EWTD
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.
References1. 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.
Making Part-Time Work
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 June 2008 and the full report can be found by clicking
here>>
Should the BMA Model Contract Be Re-Written? - Dr
Clarissa Fabre
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>>
Medical Humanities - The Key to Work-Life Balance?
- Ms Tamzin Cuming
Ms Tamzin Cuming, MWF
member and winner of the 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>>.
BBC Radio Wales 'The Gender pay-gap' - Dr Amanda
Owen
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.
The Careers of Women GPS - Dr Fiona Cornish
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>>
Are too many women coming into general practice?
- Dr Susan Overal
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).
BMJ Article 'Are there too many female medical graduates?'
- MWF response.
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.
Dr Clarissa Fabre on why 'GPs continue to offer
the best care'
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>>
BMJ Careers - The Medical Women's Federation Celebrates
its long history
To commemorate MWF's 90th
birthday, Honorary 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>>
