Doctors are to receive updated guidelines from the General Medical Council on what constitutes workplace sexual harassment.
The GMC’s Good medical practice 2024 document spells out the zero-tolerance approach that will be taken by the doctors’ regulator to sexual harassment at work.
The guidelines also cover how doctors can contribute towards a more “respectful, fair and compassionate” workplace, tackle discrimination and champion fair and inclusive leadership.
They explain that sexual harassment can take the form of verbal and written comments or sharing images, as well as physical acts.
NHS working culture
A recent survey by the British Medical Association found that a third of female and a quarter of male respondents had experienced unwanted physical conduct in the workplace.
There have also been allegations of a ‘boys’ club’ culture in many health service workplaces, with a survey in 2021 showing that 31% of female doctors had encountered gender-based discrimination. The BMA has since launched an Ending Sexism in Medicine pledge.
The guidance says: “You must not act in a sexual way towards colleagues with the effect or purpose of causing offence, embarrassment, humiliation or distress.
“What we mean by acting ‘in a sexual way’ can include – but isn’t limited to – verbal or written comments, displaying or sharing images, as well as unwelcome physical contact.”
It makes specific reference to maintaining professional boundaries, adding: “You must not act in a sexual way towards patients or use your professional position to pursue a sexual or improper emotional relationship with a patient or someone close to them.”
Dr Becky Cox, co-founder of the Surviving in Scrubs campaign, which invites health workers to share experiences of harassment, said the updated guidance was just a first step.
“The GMC needs to investigate all cases of sexual misconduct being investigated (currently only a small percentage do), increase the number of cases going through to tribunal, and to recognise that sexual misconduct is a safeguarding issue.
“We hear too many times that cases are dropped before investigation and when investigation does happen it does not lead to appropriate outcomes despite the severity of the incident.”
The BMA said it welcomed and supported “many of the individual updated standards”, including more clarity on what constitutes sexual harassment or discrimination.
Professor Phil Banfield, BMA council chair, said: “Good medical practice guidance is used as a benchmark to assess professional actions and behaviour. It is therefore crucial that it lays out robust and achievable standards rather than aspirational standards that doctors may fail to reach through no fault of their own.
“While many of the updates are reasonable on an individual level, when placed in the context of an extremely challenging health service – navigating chronic under-resourcing and the biggest backlog in the history of the NHS – doctors are rightly concerned that this will simply extend opportunities for individuals to be scapegoated when services (and the systems behind them) fail to meet the needs of patients.
“Doctors come to work to do the best job we can to care for our patients, and the GMC should not underestimate the impact that systemic pressures and failures have on doctors’ ability to provide safe care.”
The BMA advocates a three-tier approach to addressing harassment, focusing not just on reporting, but also improving how problems and issues are resolved and creating a more inclusive culture.
Prof Banfield added: “Encouraging individuals to speak up and report bullying and harassment, for example, will not be effective if doctors do not trust those who they are complaining to or if complaints are not taken seriously when people do.”
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