Trigger warning: sexual harassment
When I saw the survey results from the British Journal of Surgery, stating that nearly two-thirds of female surgeons had been the target of sexual harassment, I wasn’t surprised. I worked in the NHS for nine years, and the lecherous behaviour, casual sexism and outright harassment passed off as ‘banter’ is one of the main reasons I left.
I was a victim of sexual harassment, but I didn’t realise the true scale of the problem until years after I’d left the organisation in 2018.
I joined the NHS as an administrator because I wanted to work for an organisation that changed people’s lives. I was enticed by talk of an inclusive, friendly environment with values of dignity, respect, care and compassion. I soon discovered that the NHS has an insidious harassment culture where complaints are brushed aside.
I worked in a surgical waiting list office; only one of the 17 consultant surgeons I worked for was female. Interacting with male doctors was part of the job, and treatment varied – at best, you would be regarded with vague contempt; at worst, you would be treated like a piece of meat.
I’d get questions from my surgeons about my love life, saying I looked like “I knew how to have a good time” with a comedy wink. One of the surgeons who was terrible at remembering names called me “Jugs” because that was my nickname among his colleagues. There was one consultant who was notorious for his predatory behaviour.
I could feel his presence before I saw him. He’d creep into the office, come up behind me at my desk, place his hand on my shoulder and talk to me while looking down my top. The hand on my shoulder indicated he was in charge, and I felt trapped and helpless. He chose not to wear underwear under his surgical scrubs and was often visibly aroused. Sometimes, he would reach over me to grab a form from a shelf above me, and his erection would press into me.
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Whenever this happened, I froze, not wanting to react in case that turned him on.
After this happened a few times, I spoke to my line manager, who was pretty standoffish, nearing retirement and had already mentally checked out of her job.
When I told her about the surgeon’s creepy behaviour, she told me he was “harmless.” When she said, “Do you think I got to where I am by complaining about men?” I realised I was talking to someone who didn’t care or even think what I told her was a ‘problem.’
I became jumpy and anxious at work and started having nightmares about being assaulted by this specific doctor. After a few months, I realised I couldn’t go on like this, so I decided to look for another job outside the healthcare sector. I later learned he assaulted a nurse and was eventually disciplined, but only after years of ignored complaints.
When I left the NHS, I spoke to other women who have been subject to harassment from senior colleagues and, sometimes, patients. A receptionist complained to her manager that men arriving at the clinic often commented about her breasts. Instead of being taken seriously, she was told to wear a roll-neck jumper under her uniform, even in the summer.
I worked with over a dozen women who cited sexual comments and harassment as reasons they left their roles. Friends in nursing asked to be transferred to female specialities because patients repeatedly flashed them. A female porter took another job after learning her male colleagues graded female co-workers by how ‘shaggable’ they were.
I didn’t realise the extent of harassment for female surgeons, but there is an undeniable power and gender imbalance within the healthcare system. Two in three consultants are men, 81 per cent of NHS England employees in the lowest paid roles are female, and the gender pay gap means that male doctors earn 17 per cent more than their female counterparts. As well as victim blaming, there’s a real fear that coming forward and speaking up will harm your future career prospects, with harassment tending to come from those in more senior roles.
“The kiss on the soccer player was wrong, but it did not burn down a school,” he said.
In 2021, an article in the Royal College of Surgeons magazine highlighted the ‘uncomfortable truth’ that ‘surgery and surgical training have a problem with sexual harassment, sexual assault and rape’ and highlighted the difficulty in reporting because ‘our community is small, this means that despite reporting abuse, a person may never be able to walk away from the experience or the community in which it happened.’ In response, Royal College of Surgeons President Neil Mortensen has said that surgeons should “speak up and challenge sexism”– but that is easier said than done.
Many men in the NHS have no idea what it is like for their female colleagues. If they aren’t a target or a perpetrator, harassment of colleagues just seems to pass them by. Men need to wake up and stand up for their female colleagues before they abandon the health service altogether.
Although 35,000 cases of sexual misconduct ranging from derogatory remarks to rape were recorded in NHS England between 2017 and 2022, I believe we’ll never know the full extent of harassment in the NHS. Who knows how many people didn’t come forward or were told to make an informal complaint, so no official records were kept?
The NHS is in crisis for many reasons, but until they can provide a working environment where their employees feel comfortable reporting harassment, they are guilty of facilitating abusive behaviour. They need to create a safe environment for people to speak out without fear of blowing their careers up. No one should live in fear that reporting a crime could threaten their chance of promotion.
If you feel you can't report it, or want more information or need advice on how to protect yourself, please visit tuc.org.uk.
