BMA demands more flexible working arrangements in the NHS as it continues to attract more female doctors

The NHS must provide more flexible working as the service continues to attract more female doctors, the British Medical Association (BMA) has said.

A group of 435 doctors who graduated from UK medical schools in 2006 will be surveyed by the BMA for the next 10 years. Almost three in five (58%) are female, compared with 51% in 1995, when the BMA launched a similar study of medical graduates.

The survey found that one in five female doctors anticipated working part-time for the majority of their career, compared with just one in 25 men.

Almost half said they wanted to train less than full-time at some point, compared with 15% of men.

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Two-thirds of all the doctors surveyed expected to take a career break at some point.

Dr Jo Hilborne, chairman of the BMA Junior Doctors Committee, said: “The medical workforce is changing rapidly and the NHS needs to wake up to the needs of its staff. It’s not just the fact that more and more women are entering medicine – all staff should have the right to work-life balance.”