to be angry that there are no female doctors..... untill wednesday!!!

[charlotte121]

everyone in the chat thread thinks i am but I have a right to see a female doctor and having to wait nearly a week to see one isnt good enough in my opinion. I have a valid reason for wanting to see a female doc and although im in a lot of pain I really cant see a male doctor!

I do understand that you have issues arising from your assault and suggest that you address those via counselling rather than expecting overstretched agencies to magic a female doctor out of the air for you.

I think the consensus is the same on both threads - we are sympathetic to your position but your practice doesn't have a duty to provide a female GP everyday. And that you would do better to take some control given your position and move to a practice where it is more likely that you will be able to access a female doctor more readily.

Think that about sums it up.

I respect your choice to see only a female doctor charlotte, but how can they provide this for you immediately? They haven't one available until next week.

but Charlotte be reasonable - you say that they should have a duty to provide you with a female doctor - where are they going to get that female doctor from? Are they going to take her away from her other patients? Are they going to hire someone to come in even though they have male doctors standing by?

What if they do have a female doctor but she just happens to be booked up that week? Are her other patients supposed to forego their appointment?

What if you attend a tiny surgery with only 1 male doctor? Do they still have to have a female on standby at all times?

Wanting to provided with a doctor of your choice at a moment's notice (a week is a pretty reasonable time span IMO) is completely unviable - financially and practically. There just isn't a huge pool of unemployed female doctors floating around waiting to step into service at short notice.

Ok, so let's say you do have the 'right' to a female doctor whenever you want one. How do you think the surgery should provide you with that 'right'? Should it force a female doctor to leave her kids at home alone or drag them into the surgery on her day off to see you? Or cancel her holiday? Or force a GP in Liverpool/Wales/London to move house, take her kids out of school etc to join the surgery to ensure your surgery has more female doctors?

I have never minded having a male dr/midwife for any reason, but if that is your pref. then you must be prepared to wait.

"I was assulted a few years ago and dont feel comfortable with a man examining me. I think under those circumstances I have the right to see a female doctor."

and no one in your surgery is denying you that right. you have been offered the soonest available appointment with their female doctor.what more can they do? what alternatives do you suggest?

The Koran is a wierd medieval rulebook?

why don;t you just reregister with your mums surgery?

"The Koran is a wierd medieval rulebook?"

but of course you heathen. it is the most outdated ungodliest of all the scriptures.
the bible is more rock 'n' roll, live and let live modern teachings. as are most other religious teachings.

The practice does have a female GP though doesn't it? There is no duty btw under Human Rights legislation it is still only about reasonable provision. If you ring up your PCT (who hold lists of practices) you can request to be allocated to a practice with more female GPs, or to be registered to a female GP, and your specific circumstances can be used to be registered to a practice outside your immediate catchment area. However it is the practice itself who decides whether or not to register you. All practices (bar a few exceptions) are small businesses contracted to the PCT. If there were no practices with female GPS you could have a case with the PCT for not ensuring provision, but not with the individual practice (possibly if it were very large and you could argue it was unreasonable they had no female GPs or provision for cases where there was a specific need).

As you have a long term issue with men I think that you should be proactive about this, not just complain when (not surprisingly) you find your access limited. As others have said should you need a referral if you only wish to be seen by a female gynae you may have a very long wait ahead.

You really shouldn't be visiting your mum's GP. If you are not registered there they may not be able to give you a referral in any case, although any practice can see anyone on an emergency basis.

I am very, very sympathetic to your situation but I'm afraid I do think that it is unreasonable to expect a female doctor to be available immediately.

The surgery where I used to live had only 2 doctors, both male. The area it serviced was approximately 80% asian and it was generally considered to be an odl fashioned asian area eg. the women didn;t mix at all and the girls often went to a separate school but that is another thread.

I actually refused to see the female nurse for smears there as she was very rough, preferring to thave them done by a gentler chaperoned male doctor instead.

I imagine that statisitcally there are less female doctors than male. It is a career after all with long hours, a huge amount of training and some women particurlaly ones with children may decide against that career path or they may wish to specialise.

If you feel that this need is so fundamental to you, which it obviously is and I respect that feeling, then you must register with another practice that has a higher percentage of female doctors.

You are within your rights to request to see a female doctor, you are not within your rights to demand that it is within an unreasonable time scale.

Treading softly here but....
charlotte - do you think that part of the problem here could be because you've just given birth? I had a very traumatic delivery and was treated very badly, and it gave me a very bad attitude to the medical profession (that I still haven't really got over). I was very angry with life in general and really struggled to deal with the pain in my scar and to deal with the flashbacks to the birth.

I'm glad that you are able to get an appointment through your Mum as this really needs sorting out. I also think that the suggestions to change your surgery is a good one as there are genuine practical issues with getting you a female doctor. I also wonder whether counselling for the delivery might be useful - assuming that you had a traumatic birth of course (and not the physical after effects alone - which are bad enough).

Apologise for clashing with the serious nature of this thread but HermanMunster, your 'bible is more rock 'n' roll' along with the male doctor discussion has left me with a mental picture of being given an internal exam by an Elvis impersonator.

I blame you if I get funny looks from the nurse for laughing during my next smear test.

I have to pop put now but i'll reply later

I sometimes have to wait that long to see any doctor, male or female.

On the Muslim question, I don't think this is a religious issue, but a cultural one where some communities have rules about limiting access to women (usually based on a particular interpretation of the Koran). In some areas of the country where there are significant numbers of people in these communities the PCT will set up special services to ensure that these women are not excluded from health services. I am fairly sure there are also Jewish groups with similar cultural traditions (and some interesting Christian ones too). Personally I think this is to do with patriarchal control and sod all to do with faith.

I think statistically that there may now be more female GPs than male - or that may be there are more females qualifying (that probably makes more sense). But they are more likely to work part time for at east part of their careers, so may well be less available. One of the reasons why general practice is attractive to many women is that you can be more in control of your hours (for example no compulsion to provide cover, as out of hours services are generally contracted out).

you're not being denied the right to see a doctor of your gender preference, but you do have to wait for it.

don't see what hte problem is.

same here, herbi!

in fact, i prefer our GPs - they're sympathetic, kind, gentle, don't hesitate o seek out consultant opinions.

nooka i'd imagine that it is more wonmen qualifying (or most certainly a greater percentage than in the past) just due to social trends.
i would doubt though that they yet form the majority of the profession or are even close to parity as being a gp is normally a job for life so there would still be a lot of gp's working who qualified in the late 60's and onwards still practicing when it would have been a hugely male dominated practice.

this is purely based on anectdotle evidence etc, and would appreciate anyone in the know if they could provide statistics.

Charlotte, noone is trying to deny the realities of your needs or the seriousness of your problems. We fully understand.

We are just pointing out, very patiently and again and again, that your GP's surgery cannot magic a female doctor out of thin air if one does not happen to be working at that particular time. They are not allowed to press-gang for doctors. They cannot afford to keep doctors on standby to jump in at a moment's notice when this situation arises.
In a small practice, this would mean paying a female doctor to sit around not seeing patients in order to be prepared if somebody who needs her comes in- how could they possibly pay for that?

In our area, weekend and night-time cover is provided by the local surgeries taking it in turns to provide a doctor for the weekend. This naturally means that this doctor needs time off in the week- or do you expect them to work a 7-day week?

If your female doctor does not happen to be working this week, it is likely to be because she has other commitments. She may have young children, she may be doing training, or she may simply need to catch up on her sleep if she has been doing weekend cover. She can't just be magicked into the surgery and leave her other commitments behind.

And lots of people have to wait several days for an appointment anyway, with any kind of doctor.