Sexual harassment: Women medics in NHS 'pressured into sex'

Senior doctors say female medics have felt pressured into sexual activity with colleagues.

Four women who head up medical royal colleges in Wales have written an open letter describing misogyny, bullying and sexual harassment in the workplace.

They told BBC Wales that female staff had been asked for sex by male colleagues while on shift.

The Welsh government said: "Harassment and sexual violence is abhorrent and has no place in our NHS."

Chairwoman of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Wales, Dr Maria Atkins, said: "I've heard from multiple women over the years that during night-time shifts, they've been propositioned by male colleagues and felt pressured to engage in sexual acts.

"When they've refused they are penalised.

"It can be very damaging to some less experienced or younger women, because they will be discouraged from engaging with a team, which might have been the specialty of medicine that they wanted to progress their career in."

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Source: BBC News, 22 September 2023