To think that a hospital should have a female gynecologist?

[crazyspaniel]

My local hospital only has male gynecologists. If I want to see a female practitioner I have to travel 40 miles. In the end I went to my local hospital and found the whole experience somewhat traumatic - the fact that the doctors were male was part of the reason for finding it so horrible and humiliating.

Is it really so hard to hire a female gynecologist? I get that consultants are often of a generation when not many women went into medicine (and particularly surgery), but there are now more women than men becoming doctors and one of the doctors in the room was SHO level (or whatever they call them now), so not of that generation. I really think this is one area of medicine where there should be female quotas and where each hospital should have at least one female practitioner.

most large hospitals have 3 consultants when a consultant needs to be available 24/7 by the time even 9-5 you take into account 7 -8weeks annual leave (35 days min by length of service in NHs in order to reach consultant level) 2 weeks study leave, that you can only work an average of 48 hours including on call, most of the time there is only likely to be 2 of them in building 9-5 and only 1 the rest of the time if you work all night you are not supposed to be in following day hence delegation,

there are fewer women in gynae/obs/cardiac medicine/surgery as they involve more onerous on call less flexibility and almost impossible to work PT approx 55% of new doctors are female but still most go into GP, and if in hospital mediicne often opt for more child friendly specialities like dermatology/ diabetes etc , there are some super consultants surgeons that are women but still few and far between

am SAHM/ dentist on extended maternity but in my last practice scheduled finish was 5.30pm on average I was out by 5.30 3 days a week and about 15-20 minutes late the other 2 nights , now I do not think there are many nurseries which are tolerant of you turning up 20 minutes late at 6pm twice a week and also to know that if needs must you could be an hour late as you can never ever leave before you have finished treatment to collect kids, neither can you cancel patients and leave because nursey rings saying wee jimmy has a sniffle coughed twice had a runny nappy could you pick him up in 10 minutes!!!which is why dentists doctors etc have very flexible child minders or nannies as there is no way on earth you can guarantee collection at any time. and being honest I would not allow my dental nurse to leave at 5,30 to fetch a child if we had not finished treatment, that is some of the practical reasons fewer consultants are female

I do not think it is acceptable to say OP should just get over it but some of the practical issues of rotas etc would make getting female docotr in a rape case for police still quite difficult perhaps not in london manchester or a really big city but if in smaller small like lincoln norfolk york dundee it may be over a 50 miles to next nearest and some types of forsenic evidence do need collecting quickly as with no evidence no conviction see threads re poor conviction rates , some times the practicalities can seem callous sometimes they are not meant callously but sometimes people can be very unsympathetic to others fears

I have never ever managed to persuade a needle phobic to accept it by telling them its nothing grow up and stop making a fuss, it is possible to manage needle phobia and to get phobics completely ok about it but not by the shut up it could be worse attitiude

note to self stop writing essays sorry another long post

Andrew seriously that post sounded terribly callous. Can you not see that? I note that you are implying that I am over-reacting rather than noting that what you said did in fact sound terrible.

This is what you said: "Even in the case of assault it depends who is available at the crucial moment. If the woman who might have done it is off duty or on holiday and the stand-in is male, well, the world won't stand still and wait."

That sounds really callous, really flippant. Can you not see that?

You also do not seem to understand that is this situation if there is no female medic available then women will walk - you seem to think that getting the evidence now and get a bloke to do it and risk possible trauma to the victim / her refusing and walking away is preferable to exploring all avenues to getting someone acceptable to the victim to do it. It's a sort of "if you don't like it then tough" attitude which I find odd in relation to talk about victims of sexual offences. The way you talk about the evidence seems to forget there is a person it is collected from, one who has been through a lot. Take for example a child who has been assaulted and freaks out whenever a man comes near her - you say accept a male examining you or drop the complaint, no alternatives. That seems so hard-line and counter-intuitive.

wonkylegs and sarahtigh - Ah, i never understood the whys, you've both explained brilliantly and i get it now!.. 'tis a blinking shame the whole childcare/ flexible hours etc thing, limits women from being high up in these professions.. it's not that we're not as clever

I'm really depressed by this thread. Mumsnet who as a whole I generally think of being so much more advanced than the average group of people in regards to dealing with MH issues disabilities etc. So to hear people saying things like they'd rather women died than have the option of seeing a female doctor because positive discrimitation is so horrible really upsets me.

That the Op should just get "over" her "phobia" is a joke. Would you tell some to suck it up and get over their depression? I realize no one wants to look sexist god forbid but common sense has to come in to play occasionally doesn't it? Some women can not go see amale doctor. It isn't sexist ffs it isnt because they think male doctors are useless, its because they feel horrible being exposed. That is a genuine mental issue that rightly or wrongly needs to be accepted. And I couldn't give a fuck if one male doctor loses his place and has to go somewhere else if it means women who otherwise might die of cervical cancer get treated. I also like to think that any male doctor who genuinely cares about women would feel the same way!

btw 40 miles for me in the Uk would have meant a train and god knows how many buses and probably about £25 if I was lucky enough to travel off peak. 40 miles could be impossible for some people.

SardineQueen I can only repeat that I had no intention of being or sounding callous - and certainly not flippant. There are many subjects about which I might be flippant but this is not one of them.

You say "if there is no female medic available then women will walk". I know that. But recognising the truth of that does not wave any magic want and make a female medic available, does it? And they all have other duties.

Suppose the only female FME on duty that night is on her way to take a blood sample from a drink-driver who is near enough the limit to be entitled by law to a blood-test. If that test is not taken quickly the driver's body may metabolise more of the evidence and a driver may get away with it who was dangerously drunk when stopped - and next time that driver may kill.

So would you say the doctor should turn her car around and attend to the rape-complainant instead?

Or should an off-duty doctor be expected to turn out?

Just what do you expect?

magic wand, not want, but you will have guessed that.

SouthernFriedTofu at some point, a woman has to take responsibility for her own health. If she cannot or will not allow a man to examine her, then she needs to go to where the female gynaecologist is. Simple.

Do you also advocate Asian patients refusing to allow a White British Doctor examine them, because they feel uncomfortable/afraid of someone who is not of their race examining them?

What about White British patients refusing to allow an Asian Doctor examining them, for the same reason?

At the end of the day, the Doctor has hands, eyes, ears and a brain. That's what is needed to get to the bottom of the woman's problem. Not a second X chromosome.

Exactly Louge.
There are many, many more male gynaecologists than women-there simply are not enough for every hospital to have one. If a woman can't bring herslf to have a man examine her she is the one who has to travel elsewhere.

Women not opting for that branch has a lot to do with working hours but having read this I certainly wouldn't opt to be a gynaecologist with all the fuss it takes to get an examination. I expect there are some women who don't want to be examined full stop.

LeQueen, how rude, it doesn't matter how many bits of meat/patients a doctor has seen. the patient has a right to choose who sees her/him. it may mean nothing to the doctor but it must mean something to the individual. no one needs to 'get over themselves' where their health is concerned. it is not about the doctors,even though they may think it is, it is about the patient, every time.

Thanks to those who have replied constructively to this thread. I will think about counselling, but to be honest I am worried that it will simply open a can of worms that I would rather leave closed.

To answer the question re. travelling. I would certainly travel in the future, but just couldn't on this particular occasion. I had no car at the time and was dependent on my husband for a lift (rural area, no public transport). I didn't want to ask him to take a full day off work just to accompany me.

I am rather suprised at the number of people that think it is "strange" or "making a fuss" not to want to see a male gynaecologist. I have no problem with those that took issue with the quota idea, but to say that I should "get over myself", that I think I am particularly "special" or "alluring" is just nasty. I'm afraid you just don't know the background of myself or any other woman who has issues about examination. LeQueen - unlike you, I have more class than to say what I really think of you.

I do not think this is just a woman thing. I know plenty of men who would rather not go to the doctors about a personal problem than see a woman doctor, especially a young one. It cannot be much fun to be a guy and have to see a female proctologist or have a female doctor handling their genitals.
I think women have it easier in many ways, most nurses are women, so if a man is injured he will normally have a woman giving him a bedbath helping him go to the loo etc. And yes the nurses do not think anything of it, but it would be humilating enough to have to have someone else wipe your backside, it must be worse when it is a stranger of the opposite sex.

Good for you for not being precious or pitiful, it must be a nice feeling. I hope (genuinely, because I am actually a nice person) that nothing ever happens in your life that causes you to reassess your views.

Crazyspaniel,
Why do you not speak to your GP about this. It is not an uncommon issue, like I said before both men and women can have issues like this (lets fact it even people who do not mind male gynacologists would probablly rather not have a male protologist who looked like Brad Pitt to examine their piles). It might not be a case of counselling, but perhaps relaxation techniques so you can get it done with less stress. It might be that they could explain your situation to the doctor involved so they were aware you were nervous and can try to reasure you a bit.

QUESTION FOR OP

whenever I am seen by a male gynae, there was always a female nurse in the room, I had a cone biopsy so many many happy hours in the stirrups

would having a female nurse present make any difference?

I think if there is adeep seated reason for this (ie rape/assult) YANBU

if its down to embarassment then YABU

weirdly after childbirth I thought it would not bother me , but it sill does!!!! especially as he id a fucking chat about where we had been on holiday, he went to Tuscany LOL

Yes, there was a nurse there. I think it is a requirement.

As far as I am aware it is a legal requirement for male doctors to have a female colleague there. It is as much for their protection from false accusations as anything else.

kelly2000 As to the male side see my post of 22.43 on 3 September.

I think that men are far worse than women about these things-that is why they tend to ignore things like prostrate cancer.
Your health is the most important thing you have-second to none. To compromise it through embarrassment isn't an option IMO.
The doctor, male or female is a professional, they are not looking at you in a sexual way-they see it every day, every week and every year.

There are simply not the resources to timetable everyone in with the same sex practitioner. I would rather NHS were using resources in the most cost effective way and getting the best person for the job rather than having complicated timetables and putting quotas above ability.
Even if they have a complicated timetabling it could easily happen that your woman doctor is called into theatre in an emergency and you are left with her male deputy.

yabu, they all have the same training

then if there is a female nurse there, surely it should be OK? well not OK, but free from trauma?

I think people think its strange as you have not explained why its such a trauma for you, as it could just read like you are embarassed, if people dont know why then yes, they will tell you "get over it" and frankly noone really likes the experience