Retired academic lawyer, formerly Head of School of Law at BCU, proud mother and grandmother. Victim / survivor of O&G violence
West Midlands
Joined October 2012
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Credit: Healthy Living Talks
From an American organisation. What is said here is universal ⬇️
I am happy to strike on these dates if it would help
Consultants don’t want to strike, but after 18 months without formal negotiations, they cannot wait any longer.
These strikes are planned to take place on 25 and 26 November, with Christmas Day levels of cover provided. There is still time for the Government to make progress.
ALT Graphic with an orange gradient background and a silhouette crowd holding banners and placards at the bottom. Large white text reads: “Consultants confirm strike action”. A banner at the top says “Consultants in England”. A white box displays the dates “25 & 26 November”. At the bottom is an orange button reading “Find out why” with a white arrow icon.
ALT Graphic with an orange gradient background and a silhouette crowd holding banners and placards along the bottom. At the top, a banner reads “Consultants in England”. Large text states: “18 months in dispute. Still no formal negotiations.” A white text box below reads: “Consultants are taking industrial action after repeated calls for formal negotiations have failed to produce progress.” A white circular arrow icon appears in the bottom right corner.
ALT Graphic with an orange gradient background and a silhouette crowd holding banners and placards along the bottom. A banner at the top reads “Consultants in England”. Large text states: “Christmas Day levels of cover will continue during the industrial action.” A white text box below reads: “Our mandate must now lead to a credible offer that addresses the dispute.” The BMA logo appears at the bottom centre.
And the eye-watering cost of this…
🚨 Breaking: After a three year battle, County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust has finally changed its policy on single-sex spaces for staff to bring it in line with the law.
It is amazing how simple it is! Now all NHS Trusts must urgently follow suit.
Bethany Hutchison, President of the Darlington Nursing Union and lead claimant in the case, said:
“This short sentence in a policy has taken women three years of fear, humiliation and extraordinary personal sacrifice to secure.
“We were nurses asking for the most basic protection: somewhere private and safe to undress at work, away from members of the opposite sex. Instead of listening, the Trust told us to compromise, broaden our mindset and be more inclusive. We were forced out of our own changing room, placed in inadequate facilities, threatened with disciplinary action and made to fear for our jobs and professional careers.
“Vulnerable colleagues were put under intolerable pressure. International nurses feared losing their visas. Women who had experienced domestic abuse were left distressed and afraid. Four of us were reported to our professional regulator simply for speaking publicly about what was happening.
“Throughout it all, the Trust defended a policy it had been warned was unlawful. Even after the Supreme Court clarified the law, it refused to change course. It took a full tribunal judgment, an apology, damages and an enormous bill before the Trust finally wrote biological reality into its policy.
“We welcome this change because it will protect women across the Trust, but it should never have required a three-year legal battle. No nurse should ever again be treated as we were for asking for dignity, privacy and safety.”
See more breaking in the Daily Express and with @CConcern and the Christian Legal Centre who have supported the nurses from the beginning.
express.co.uk/news/uk/226004…
christianconcern.com/ccpress…
Ooops - he may not be American but regardless of that it’s a good video!
An American video posted today, which has some useful advice and is worth sharing I think @HysteroscopyA @WombCancerInfo @WarriorsWo32390
Hysteroscopy Pain: Your Pain-Control Plan, Step by Step. youtu.be/oLxDNWHn1mM?is=caq7… via @YouTube
An American video posted today, which has some useful advice and is worth sharing I think @HysteroscopyA @WombCancerInfo @WarriorsWo32390
Hysteroscopy Pain: Your Pain-Control Plan, Step by Step. youtu.be/oLxDNWHn1mM?is=caq7… via @YouTube
An American video, but very useful advice and worth sharing I think @HysteroscopyA
Hysteroscopy Pain: Your Pain-Control Plan, Step by Step. youtu.be/oLxDNWHn1mM?is=QI_a… via @YouTube
What a mess.
“The ultimate penalty….is death. It is not torture, then death”
theguardian.com/us-news/2026…
Valerie (Val) Humphreys retweeted
In February 2025, @michaelpforan wrote this excellent piece on exactly this topic. I can no longer read it in full unfortunately, but anyone who wants to do so should be able to register to gain access.
thecritic.co.uk/patients-hav…
Valerie (Val) Humphreys retweeted
There should be consequence and a thorough investigation and actual change. We must hold them to account.
When I mention my male privilege some call me ‘woke’. I am happily so, slowly waking up to my many male privileges due to the wonderful women in my life…
I am happy to suggest several wonderful female colleagues who are world class in breast cancer care…
Valerie (Val) Humphreys retweeted
Following the Covid Inquiry's damning verdict on @MattHancock, we've launched a petition to remove him from the Privy Council.
His actions led to thousands of avoidable deaths.
This is a first symbolic step towards accountability.
Sign and share: c.org/RJtgMtQF2f
Words fail me (and that doesn’t happen very often) ⬇️
I know this pic has been posted by others already, but... what on earth @RCPhysicians ?! 😱
#NoMoreManels
#DiversityAndInclusion
Valerie (Val) Humphreys retweeted
I respectfully disagree. There is a misunderstanding that “violence” always involves intent, whereas it can ofc be caused by neglect, carelessness or even innocently. The important issue is how it is perceived by the victim/survivor, not whether the term offends the perpetrator.
Valerie (Val) Humphreys retweeted
It’s not the main point of the article but words matter and imo anything which makes a woman feel she has ‘failed’ should be outlawed in medicine - and that includes terminology such as “incompetent cervix” “blighted ovum” “failure to progress” and other such terms
Excellent news - and about time the NHS did the same
Japan will no longer use the term “abnormal delivery” to describe births involving medical procedures such as caesarean sections, following concerns that the wording could cause psychological distress to expectant parents.
japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/1…
Valerie (Val) Humphreys retweeted
Maybe the key Qs are:
-why do women feel the need to turn to social media for help and information?
-why is trust in O&G at such a low ebb?
-why are women dismissed as “anxious” (as you have done) by O&G practitioners?
-when is O&G going to take responsibility for its failings?
RCOG response to the NHS Alliance statement on safety in maternity care
rcog.org.uk/news/royal-colle…
Valerie (Val) Humphreys retweeted
The LAW requires this. It is not guidance randomly created to make life difficult for staff. It gives effect to the EA 2010 and, most importantly, is essential to keep women pts safe and to respect their privacy and dignity - and that imo, in healthcare, is long overdue.
Valerie (Val) Humphreys retweeted
This issue doesn’t affect only, or even primarily, male doctors. A patient can be physically harmed or traumatised by a male doctor, and it can happen even with the presence / collusion of a female nurse “chaperone”.
What you suggest is far too simplistic.
Valerie (Val) Humphreys retweeted
My sister’s roommate got molested by a male nurse that was supposed to be taking her vitals. I walked in on him massaging her breast (she was unconscious), and he ran out.
I was so stunned, but I didn’t raise any alarm because it would be my word against his. I made sure there was always someone with her and worked her transfer out of the school clinic that same day.
Being a doctor doesn’t automatically make someone incapable of sexual harassment. There are sexual predators in every profession, including healthcare. Women are allowed to have boundaries and feel uncomfortable. The answer is to build trust and respect consent, not shame women for being cautious. And deliberately refusing to examine a patient because you think she’s being dramatic? That’s an abuse of professional responsibility.
I so so dislike when female patients think male doctors care about their bodies as if the male doctors came to look at their bodies
I dont think some of these female patients know the trauma the male doctors go through because of these misconceptions just to arrive at a diagnosis
The annoying part is that “these females “ who think a male doctor left his house just to examine them to get a certain “high “will now be asking that a female doctor who is already overwhelmed with work should do a better job because they would rather have a female examine her
Anyway for me when I see these drama females I intentionally refuse to examine them and leave them with the male colleague.
I even want to seize this opportunity to tell all these females patients that no doctor cares or look at them passionately during examination, they just see these body parts as a diseased organ that needs to be cured.
I think people need to get that .
Because I hear stuffs like these a lot
I wish the male doctors can come under my comment and let these young females know that nobody cares about their body parts “sexually “ during examination.
I think we all female and male doctors need to trash out this horrible mind sets of patients
This ⬇️ 👏👏👏
This is the danger of applying industrial-process thinking to medicine. It dehumanises—reducing patients to units of demand, casting doctors as interchangeable production resources, and treating care as movement through a pathway.
Patients with the same diagnostic label are not equivalent. They differ in pathology, comorbidities, frailty, capacity to heal, psychological resilience, family and home circumstances, attitudes towards illness, treatment preferences and willingness to accept risk. Doctors are no more uniform: differences in knowledge, experience, diagnostic ability, judgement, communication and continuity profoundly influence outcomes.
These are not peripheral variables to be added to a model. They are the substance of clinical medicine.
Most seriously, this mechanistic approach ignores the primacy of the patient–doctor relationship: the moral and clinical space in which trust is established, uncertainty interpreted, hidden concerns disclosed and treatment individualised. Once that relationship is subordinated to throughput, waiting-time targets, productivity metrics or financially rewarded points, the system may become more efficient at processing activity while becoming less capable of caring for people.
A healthcare system can optimise every measurable stage of a pathway and still fail the human being travelling through it.
Systems must serve patients and support professional judgement. Patients must never be made to serve the system.
