GP trainee Dr Louise Clarke responds to Copperfield’s most recent blog which called a new report on women’s health ‘insulting bollocks’
Dear editor,
I was disheartened to read Dr Copperfield’s damning review of the House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee report. In Dr Copperfield’s blog, entitled ‘Women’s health report is insulting bollocks’, he drew comparisons with inadequately managed men’s health conditions and described feeling alienated, as a GP, by its contents. As a woman and soon-to-CCT GP trainee, I feel not alienated but empowered by such a report. We should celebrate that long-overlooked women’s health conditions are finally being prioritised by politicians, in commissioning and in medical education.
Women consistently report feeling ‘dismissed’ by healthcare practitioners, so the use of this word is not, as Dr Copperfield suggest, a ‘sanctimonious blame-dump’ but rather the voice of our patients. Our patients that we have a responsibility to listen to. If they are consistently telling us that something is wrong, we should do our best to remedy it. Of course, the obligation lies primarily with commissioners, NHS England, and ultimately the Government, to provide a system that enables us to deliver this aspirational care. The report recognises our short consultation times, workplace pressures, and increasingly long secondary care waiting times contribute to deficiencies in care. As a clinician, I find these barriers frustrating, and whilst I doubt the recommendations of the report will fix these endemic problems, I do not feel dismissed myself.
By championing women’s health, we do not disregard men’s health. There are inadequacies and injustices in the delivery of care for all genders. Shame and stigma in relation to their genital health conditions and addressing this would benefit all. Women experience reproductive health problems throughout their lifespan, and menopause – which frequently requires GP input for symptom management – affects all women. The universality of these problems which affect the day-to-day functioning of millions of women in the UK alone, underscores their importance.
Over the last decade, I have personally experienced unplanned pregnancy, pregnancy loss, IVF and PMDD. I have had at best poorly thought-out responses from employers, colleagues and consultants – at worse, discriminatory. My GP, whilst well meaning and supportive, required education on PMDD and accessing treatment was delayed by seeking secondary care advice. Female colleagues encouraged me to suck it up, presumably as these problems are perceived as a natural part of womanhood. It stands to reason that unconscious bias persists in medicine and the Government at least acknowledges this.
Finally, I would like to remind Dr Copperfield that ‘bollocks’, literally or figuratively, have nothing to do with women’s health. The House of Commons Women and Equalities commission report offers an opportunity for GPs to leverage incentives and renumeration for effective provision of care. More crucially, however, it proffers hope.
Kind Regards,
Dr Louise Clarke, GP trainee and Academic Clinical Fellow in Nottinghamshire
Well-said Louise, and so sorry to hear of your negative experiences. Congratulations on your imminent CCT.
Let’s see what incentives and remuneration we can leverage. I fear the outcome will be one more tickbox on the appraisal process (as is mentioned in the report).
Presumably, now that this MPs Committee has identified women’s health as an important issue (although also identified in previous House of Commons reports), we can look forward to them bringing considerable pressure to bear on the Treasury and Govt to release substantial £millions funding to pay for the execution of their recommendations: school education, research, women’s hubs and GP education courses.
Otherwise, it will look just like politicians playing politics..
I am the menopause lead for my practice so I have a fair understanding of women’s health issues.
My problem with all these single issue campaigns is this – what is the opportunity cost? How many GP appointments are lost through mandatory training? All day Oliver McGowan training comes to mind
We are generalists. We are proud of this. We are a jack of all trades and master of none.
If we change this model, we change the landscape of general practice forever. With all the financial and workforce risks that will bring
With the greatest respect, a sense of humour is essential to survival in GP if you stick it out as long as Copperfield. I find his piss-taking articles actually disguise a great deal of wisdom and kindness and I think it’s likely he’s an excellent GP. You either laugh or cry in this job. Being able to hold both in your head at once is peak GP.
Sorry.
Far too much emphasis on women’s health and sod all on men’s health.
This is THE glaring inequality, but men don’t jump up and down and complain about it.
Copperfield is right.
Totally echo Dr No! To write as he does can only be done by someone with knowledge and understanding. His etchings are a breath of fresh air compared to the usual wailing from pressure groups expecting GP’s to be consultants in every specialty under the sun! Behind the brilliant humour is a lot of commonsense and he hits the nail on the head on most topics.He’s one of us! – compared to the bods at GMC,NHSE,CQC and definitely the media, whose support is debatable to say the least!
The patients with “women’s problems” rarely see me nowadays. They usually see one of the lady doctors. I do the odd HRT. I tend to collude with the ones that say “You wouldn’t understand-your a man.”
My trainer did educate me in this area. “Most of their problems are between their ears—-“. That was her sage advice.
Am I missing something here? Sure our priority here is to all of our patients’ health and well-being regardless of age, gender or race.
I am genuinely so sorry you had to put up with such awful prejudiced and inadequate care; a lack of knowledge is no excuse for a lack of understanding your patient’s needs!
However, unless this re-run of a report detailing the inadequacies of women’s health care comes with additional funding all it can do is divert care away from other equally well deserving patients.