NHS: Women Doctors

Baroness Cumberlege Excerpts

Tuesday 6th November 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Cumberlege]

My Lords, I declare an interest, and my interests are in the register. Does my noble friend agree that some of the brightest women in the land choose a medical career and are well equipped to take on positions of leadership? Does he also agree that they are under-represented on the boards of the new clinical commissioning groups? Can he suggest to the national Commissioning Board that it examines this issue before authorising the individual boards?

[Earl Howe]

My noble friend makes a very important point. There is good evidence that women doctors make safer decisions, are often better at communication than men and understand better the needs of women, and we need them to inspire the next generation of women doctors. Therefore, to fish for clinical leaders from half the talent pool is not a sensible thing to do. As for CCGs, my noble friend makes a very important point. The NHS Leadership Academy has established development opportunities, including action learning sets for female CCG leaders. But we recognise that more work is needed at a system level to aid progress in this area.