Special provisions for women doctors to train and practise in medicine after graduation: a report of a survey

The findings of a survey of 3262 women doctors registered between 1945 and 1974 are reported. The results are based on 2433 returned questionnaires (75% response). The survey confirmed that the special forms of assistance provided to enable women doctors to continue training and to work after graduation are inadequate. Although the Women Doctors' Retainer Scheme and part-time training schemes are suited to women's needs, they are insufficiently publicized, inflexibly administered and limited in availability. The need for a counselling service for women doctors is not met. Facilities for child care on NHS premises are very deficient. With more substantial provision of all these forms of assistance to women doctors, the scope and extent of their contribution to medicine could be increased. The Medical Register is an unreliable means of ascertaining the numbers and whereabouts of women who may require this special assistance. The main problem now is not a lack of ideas about suitable provision for women doctors, but the implementation by the relevant authorities of the proposals already made, to enable both women doctors themselves and the NHS to benefit.