Calling all medical schools to sign the NHS Sexual Safety Charter
Calling all medical schools to sign the NHS Sexual Safety Charter
The Issue
Sign our petition to show your support of our open letter urging all UK medical schools to demonstrate their commitment to ensuring sexual safety within their institutions. Sexual misconduct is prevalent in the UK healthcare system, and medical students are particularly vulnerable to this misconduct due to being at the bottom end of a power imbalance that can be abused by senior doctors. Medical students feel unable to speak up out of fear of the impact this could have on their future career, as well as difficulties in knowing who is responsible for their safety due to falling into the gap between reporting systems in NHS trusts and medical schools. Despite the widespread nature of this issue, almost half of UK medical schools offer no training on sexual misconduct within the context of the healthcare profession.
It is essential that medical schools across the UK commit to enforcing a zero-tolerance approach to any unwanted, inappropriate or harmful sexual behaviours within the workplace. Medical schools based in England are able to show their commitment to sexual safety within their organisation by signing NHS England's Sexual Safety Charter. At the time of this petition being created, only 3 out of the 36 medical schools in England have signed. We are urging all English medical schools to sign the charter, and for other medical schools across the rest of the UK to support the cause by aligning to the 10 core principles and actions the charter outlines. A message must be sent to all medical students that sexual misconduct will not be tolerated within medical schools and the medical profession alike, and signing the charter is an imperative first step.
Signatures on this petition represent supporting signatures for the open letter our team at Surviving in Scrubs has written to all UK medical schools to express our disappointment in their lack of engagement and to encourage them to take action - you can read the full open letter below. As medical students ourselves, we urge all medical students to sign this petition so we can all feel safe and supported in our practice. We also encourage any individuals that support our cause to also sign the petition and send a message that we will not stop pushing for change.
40,047
The Issue
Sign our petition to show your support of our open letter urging all UK medical schools to demonstrate their commitment to ensuring sexual safety within their institutions. Sexual misconduct is prevalent in the UK healthcare system, and medical students are particularly vulnerable to this misconduct due to being at the bottom end of a power imbalance that can be abused by senior doctors. Medical students feel unable to speak up out of fear of the impact this could have on their future career, as well as difficulties in knowing who is responsible for their safety due to falling into the gap between reporting systems in NHS trusts and medical schools. Despite the widespread nature of this issue, almost half of UK medical schools offer no training on sexual misconduct within the context of the healthcare profession.
It is essential that medical schools across the UK commit to enforcing a zero-tolerance approach to any unwanted, inappropriate or harmful sexual behaviours within the workplace. Medical schools based in England are able to show their commitment to sexual safety within their organisation by signing NHS England's Sexual Safety Charter. At the time of this petition being created, only 3 out of the 36 medical schools in England have signed. We are urging all English medical schools to sign the charter, and for other medical schools across the rest of the UK to support the cause by aligning to the 10 core principles and actions the charter outlines. A message must be sent to all medical students that sexual misconduct will not be tolerated within medical schools and the medical profession alike, and signing the charter is an imperative first step.
Signatures on this petition represent supporting signatures for the open letter our team at Surviving in Scrubs has written to all UK medical schools to express our disappointment in their lack of engagement and to encourage them to take action - you can read the full open letter below. As medical students ourselves, we urge all medical students to sign this petition so we can all feel safe and supported in our practice. We also encourage any individuals that support our cause to also sign the petition and send a message that we will not stop pushing for change.
40,047
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Petition created on 23 July 2024