Legal News
Female Doctors Need Flexible Working Hours, Says Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (6 October 2011)
Date: 06/10/2011
The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE) has called for the NHS to allow female doctors more flexible working hours. The RCPE maintains that the move is necessary not only to maintain patient care but also to respond to the rising numbers of female doctors. Since 2001, the number of female doctors in the UK has increased by 37 per cent. The RCPE has cautioned that should flexible working hours not be granted to female doctors, there was a “real threat” that women may choose to leave the profession after having children.
The RCPE states that 42 per cent of all doctors are women and of this 42 per cent, 28 per cent are hospital consultants and 47 per cent are GPs. The RCPE claims that a higher percentage of women doctors chose to become GPs due to the greater flexibility of their working hours. The RCPE warns that if female doctors fail to be granted flexible working hours, this could have significant implications for the NHS.
Dr. Alison Brown, who chairs the RCPE's Less Than Full Time Working Group and works as an NHS Consultant, claims that a previous lack of career flexibility within medicine, especially within the higher intensity specialties, such as surgery or cardiology, had led to many female doctors limiting their career choices to specialities in which family-friendly working patterns were available. She added that while the NHS had attempted to respond to the rising rate of female doctors, the changes had not been made at a “sufficient rate” to meet demand.
Duncan Lewis’ employment law solicitors are able to provide legal advice on clients’ rights to flexible working hours and a range of other important employment issues.