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A group of doctors have urged Wes Streeting to intervene over claims medical schools are failing to tackle sexual assault and harassment of students.
Surviving in Scrubs, a campaign group representing doctors who’ve faced sexual violence in medicine, has called on the health secretary to force dozens of medical schools to commit to new NHS standards for tackling sexual assault and harassment.
In a letter to the health secretary, Surviving in Scrubs co-founders Dr Becky Cox & Dr Chelcie Jewitt warned medical students were particularly vulnerable to suffering sexual violence but that medical schools had not committed to the NHS’ sexual safety charter.
Last year NHS England published a new charter on how to handle sexual assault concerns and how to better protect staff. Hospitals nationwide were told by the NHS England chief executive Amanda Pritchard that they must sign up for this charter earlier this year.
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In July The Independent revealed a warning from Surviving in Scrubs that just three out of 36 medical schools had signed up.
Now despite a petition, signed by 37,000 people, no further medical schools have made a commitment to meet the charter’s standards.
In their letter to the Mr Streeting the campaign group said: “Medical students are particularly vulnerable to sexual misconduct. Their lower professional status places them at the lower end of a power imbalance that facilitates sexual misconduct and discourages victims from reporting. The testimonies we receive detail students being sexually harassed and sexually assaulted whilst on clinical placement by senior doctors...
“We urgently ask for your support to engage medical schools to address sexism and sexual violence affecting their students. We request to meet with you to discuss this issue and hope we can work collaboratively to find meaningful solutions.”
The group said it had received reports of consultants “targeting” medical students who fear speaking up because of a fear of mistreatment or the impact on their future careers.
The letter described stories of perpetrators using training sessions to abuse students, such as using clinical examination to assault them.
Earlier this year a high-profile surgeon in Oxford, Dr James Gilbert, was sanctioned by a medical practitioners tribunal after it was found he sexually harassed female colleagues including trainees.
The UK’s medical regulator, the General Medical Council, was forced to lodge an appeal against the medical practitioners tribunal service as it gave Dr Gilber a mere eight-month suspension.
The General Medical Council is seeking to overturn a decision by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service, calling for Dr James Gilbert to be struck off.
The DHSC did not confirm whether Mr Streeting would meet with the campaign group.
In a statment the health and social care secretary, Wes Streeting said: “There is absolutely no place for sexism or sexual violence within our NHS, and this government is committed to stamping this out by ensuring any reported cases are properly investigated and punished.
“We are committed to reforming our broken NHS by creating a culture that allows whistleblowers to speak up, giving them the support they need and ensuring that their concerns are acted on swiftly and promptly.
“We must ensure that all of our fantastic staff are able to serve proudly within our NHS and improve the service it provides to patients.
This story was updated on 1 October to include a response from the health secretary.
