‘I naively thought things were better’: The doctors training GPs on sexual safety at work

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By Daniel Pye

Sexual abuse in primary care settings is as prominent an issue as it was in the 1990s, claim two GP trainers.

Dr Ruth Norgain, along with Dr Anjla Sharman, trains colleagues on sexual safety at work and said she witnessed abuse firsthand as a junior doctor.

She said the feeling was that they just had to put up with it. “I naively thought things were [now] better”.

When Norgain saw the 2023 Royal College of Surgeons survey, which revealed two-thirds of women and almost a quarter of men had been the target of sexual harassment from colleagues, she realised the issue was still as prominent three decades on, and has since made it her goal to protect young doctors in training.

Both doctors recently spoke on the issue at the Royal College of General Practitioners conference in Glasgow. Speaking to Doctors.net.uk afterwards, Sharman said trainers have a lot of responsibility.