Ruth Abrams is an organisational psychologist and health services researcher at the University of Surrey with an interest in the Primary Care/ NHS workforce, and is a member of the BJGP Editorial Board. She is on LinkedIN: www.linkedin.com/in/ruth-abrams-079438285
Victoria Williams is a women‘s health researcher at the University of Surrey with an interest in workplace wellbeing. She is on LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vwvictoriawilliams/
In June, the Medical Women’s Federation released their Manifesto for Women Doctors. Across seven key themes, the manifesto details concrete actions for individuals, organisations and the government to help retain women doctors.1 Written after the Spring 2025 conference, this document is a distress signal sent to draw attention to a group known to be at risk of higher rates of burnout, poorer wellbeing outcomes, the ‘glass ceiling’ effect at senior leadership levels and increased patient demand in certain areas (child and women’s health).2 Never has this manifesto come at a more important time, as we await the release of the NHS Ten Year Plan.
We need a plan that seeks to place the workforce at the heart of everything and looks to support diverse groups across both clinical and non-clinical professions.
From a staff perspective, what we need from this ten year plan is one that presents alternative narratives to the current crisis. We need a plan that seeks to place the workforce at the heart of everything and looks to support diverse groups across both clinical and non-clinical professions. In particular this needs to be women, who make up over half the NHS workforce. This group often find themselves performing multiple care roles both at work and in their personal lives, and are subjected to systemic gender based ideals,3 which are compounded when intersectional identities are involved.4 The Manifesto for Women Doctors shows how changing both thinking, and practice can be introduced.
In our NIHR-funded project exploring the evidence around how women GPs can thrive, we too are also showing the ways in which women in medicine can be retained and reach their full potential. Interim findings suggest that despite there being a workforce crisis, there are still conditions in which women GPs can succeed in general practice. These conditions, which include ensuring access to: professional networks, role models and supervisory groups; high quality enriching interactions with patients and colleagues; diverse views on career attainment; and upholding male GPs to the same caring ideals as women, often result in reduced burnout, improved wellbeing, and enhanced career development, all of which are proxies for thriving.
…despite there being a workforce crisis, there are still conditions in which women GPs can succeed in general practice.
We also know that there are equivalent conditions that act to contradict women GPs’ ability to thrive. These conditions chime with some of those noted by the Manifesto including: workplace cultures that undermine women; stymied opportunities for career progression; leadership roles that often require out of hours working; parenthood and dual caring roles; and gender-based mistreatment. Failure to address these systemic inequalities rooted in the profession not only impact women GPs ability to thrive, but their survival in the profession overall. At various career stages women GPs may leave general practice unplanned if these barriers in experiences and outcomes persist.5 This marks a significant loss for patients who turn to them for high quality, safe and complex healthcare issues.
From our work so far, we’ve come to see that those who thrive often do so because they turn towards themselves, engaging in individualised solutions such as job crafting, portfolio working and part-time working. These options may work for some, but may not be viable or even available as options for others. They also, ultimately force the onus onto individual women themselves.6 As we wait at this juncture, and consider what the next ten years ahead of us could look like, what we need to remain focused on is workforce solutions that are both sustainable and systemic for all of the profession. These solutions could include: addressing outdated views about working in the profession amongst both colleagues and patients; being rewarded fairly for the complexity of care and time spent with patients; integrated flexibility to balance competing caring demands; and access to career development opportunities that accept and work with, not against the life stages of a woman GP. Sustainable and thriving careers may very well then become attainable and accessible to the general practice workforce.
References
- Medical Women’s Federation. Manifesto for women doctors. 2025. Available from: https://www.medicalwomensfederation.org.uk/our-work/mwf-manifesto [Accessed: 31 June 2025].
- Abrams R. Mind the (expectation) gap: the double bind for women GPs. Br J Gen Pract. 2025; 75(753):150–1. https://bjgp.org/content/75/753/150
- Shiner A, Watson J, Doohan N, Howe A. Learning or leaving? An international qualitative study of factors affecting the resilience of female family doctors. BJGP Open. 2020 4 (1): bjgpopen20X101017. DOI: 10.3399/bjgpopen20X101017
- Dacre J, Woodhams C, Atkinson C, Laliotis I, Williams M, Blanden J, et al. Mend the Gap: The Independent Review into Gender Pay Gaps in Medicine in England. 2020. Available from: https://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/71863 [Accessed: 6 March 2025].
- Bardoel EA, Russell G, Advocat J, Mayson S, Kay M. Turnover among Australian general practitioners: a longitudinal gender analysis. Hum Resour Health. 2020 Dec 9;18(1):99.
- Mayson S, Bardoel A. Sustaining a career in general practice: Embodied work, inequality regimes, and turnover intentions of women working in general practice. Gender, Work & Organization. 2021;28(3):1133–51.
Featured image by Ugur Akdemir on Unsplash
