Introduction
The past year has been a time of innovation, transformation and progress for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG), as we pursue our global mission to improve the health of women and girls.
But don’t take our word for it. Here, our members, partners, fellow campaigners, College staff and the women we serve, reflect on just a handful of their highlights from 2022 and outline the vital role the College plays around the world.
Meeting our members’ needs
In 2021/22, membership of the RCOG continued to grow to nearly 16,000 people across the world. As global leaders in medical education, we continued to offer tailored support to our members at every stage of their careers. We did this through exams, flexible learning, and information and guidance on current issues, such as tackling complications from vaginal mesh implants and safe staffing on maternity wards.
This year, the College continued to develop and launch resources to address workforce challenges and make sure obstetrics and gynaecology is staffed at safe levels.
Dr Julie Anne Forbes is Associate Specialist in Gynaecology and the Staff Grade, Specialty doctor and Associate Specialist (SAS) Lead at the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust. She talks about her experience of contributing to the College’s workforce planning programme.
“I have been involved with an important piece of work this year, the College’s workforce census. Based on the data gathered, we can look at how to best structure our workforce for the future, building our services around people.
The census will be one component contributing to the Safe Staffing in Maternity Tool the College is developing to help maternity units with future workforce planning.
On behalf of SAS and Locally Employed Doctors, I also contributed to the RCOG Workforce Report 2022, which offers guidance to help individual clinicians, clinical directors and managers.
A career in obstetrics and gynaecology is very rewarding, but it is also stressful. It is crucial we support doctors to make sure they stay within the specialty.
Being involved in these areas of workforce planning with the College is a privilege; it has also been a learning experience for me personally.”
From making abortion safe in Sub-Saharan Africa to influencing the UK government’s COVID-19 vaccination programme, the College has raised the profile of women’s healthcare and standards of professional practice globally.
In addition, and following the College’s campaigning, advocacy and media activity, a ban on virginity testing and hymenoplasty is now enshrined into law. So too is the use of telemedicine for early medical abortion care in England.
The College successfully campaigned to secure these improvements for women and girls in the Health and Care Act 2022. This is helping to keep women safe from harmful practices as well as improving access to essential reproductive healthcare.
Putting gynaecology waiting lists in the spotlight
The College called for the UK government and NHS to overhaul the way it prioritises treatment for women on gynaecology waiting lists. Our Left for too Long report featured the untold stories of women like Carina who’s had suspected fibroids since 2017.
“It was so important that there was a debate on gynaecology waiting lists in parliament for the first time in July 2022. Left for too Long was picked up by the media and this filtered through to parliament. I'm hoping this awareness can be capitalised on with change. It’s important that women and the College continue to speak up because waiting lists are still horrific.
I wanted to get involved with Left For Too Long because I was feeling helpless. I’d just been told there was an 18-month waiting list to get the myomectomy I needed to remove fibroids. Sharing my story was my way of getting out exactly what I was feeling. I hoped that somebody was actually listening.
The report brought women’s stories to the forefront and highlighted what is going on. We need to listen to women and think carefully about how we prioritise them for treatment.
It’s great to hear that the College has started discussions with NHS England about potential changes for how women are prioritised for surgery.”
Over 50 Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) Champions across Sub-Saharan Africa are addressing barriers to safe abortion care for women and girls. They are part of the Making Abortion Safe (MAS) programme in Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Sudan and Zimbabwe.
Ibraheem Awowole is a Gynaecologist and Obstetrician at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex and a Senior Lecturer at the Obafemi Awolowo University in South West Nigeria. He talks about why he decided to become an SRHR Champion and the difference the MAS programme makes.
"I became an SRHR Champion in 2021 because I’m passionate about women’s health. In developing parts of the world, women’s health isn’t prioritised as much as it should be.
Under the Sustainable Development Goals, we need to reduce maternal deaths globally to less than 70 per 100,000 live births. Abortion-related deaths, which are largely preventable, contribute about 11 to 13% to maternal mortality. Abortion law in Nigeria is one of the most restrictive globally. Addressing abortion-related deaths will help substantially reduce maternal near-miss and morbidity in Nigeria.
This year, some SRHR champions presented extracts from the National Guidelines on Safe Termination of Pregnancy for Legal Indications at the Nigerian Medical Association Annual Meeting. Copies of the guidelines were provided to attendees at no cost, thanks to the College.
Other SRHR champions in Nigeria have worked with course providers to make sure medical students learn about safe and legal abortion services. They’re also adapting the RCOG Best Practice Papers on Pre- and Post-Abortion Care and legal abortion services to the Nigerian context.
I hope the programme can engage policymakers and influence more favourable laws that make it easy for women to have affordable, accessible, legal and safe abortion care.”
Our ambitious digital transformation programme is benefiting members and helping to improve the health of women and girls. It includes virtual events, a new learning management system for education and training for the obstetrics and gynaecology profession, an upgraded website, and innovative digital tools and resources.
We have moved away from traditional paper-based formats to offer digitally agile, computer-based exams, enhancing candidates’ experience. These are hosted in verified test centres around the world, making the exams more accessible to global members.
The RCOG’s membership exam is internationally recognised as the gold standard qualification in O&G. Dr Pushpee Sinha is a Specialist in Gynaecology and Obstetrics in Dubai. In early 2022, she took the MRCOG Part 3 exam online from her home and gained a Gold Medal for outstanding achievement.
“When you're overseas, it's always a dream to get a qualification from the Royal College.
I’d taken the MRCOG Part 1 exam in-person, before the pandemic, so I was a little apprehensive about doing the other exams online. But my experience was very positive for both exams – Part 2, which I took at the Pearson test centre, and Part 3, which I did online at home.
My experience of the Part 3 exam online was very positive. The training from the College really helped. It was an online group session and a chance for candidates to ask questions and make sure we fully understood what was going to happen during the online exam.
On the day, the role players were all very professional and aware of us being online. It was all very user friendly and felt as good as an in-person exam. I felt well taken care of throughout the process.
The exam has changed the way I practise. I feel much more confident in tackling cases and assured I’m doing things the right way.”
Our digital exams
The College continued to focus on making our organisation – and profession – more inclusive. A highlight from this area of work includes defining an action plan for priority areas of our Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) strategy. We have also provided more support for disabled colleagues and put a new system into place to take the bias out of recruitment. And we are hiring apprentices, developing internships and providing work experience opportunities to students from less advantaged backgrounds.
Awareness and support for EDI issues
The College’s four staff networks – LGBTQ+; disability and long-term conditions; parents; and racial equality – provide an opportunity for staff to share experiences of working at the College, raise awareness of EDI issues, support each other, and to contribute to relevant business decisions.
Emily Lewis, LGBTQ+ Staff Network Co-chair, shares what the network has been up to over the last 12 months.
“The staff networks really help make the College feel like an inclusive place that is always developing and listening to staff. This year, LGBTQ+ Network activity included creating a toolkit to provide ideas for being an effective ally to LGBTQ+ colleagues, informed by members’ experiences.
We also had a lunchtime session delivered by Alcohol Change UK for Mental Health Awareness Week, which was really well received by staff across the College. It's been great to see the brilliant work coming from the other networks as well. We work with them and share learning where we can.”
Awareness and support for EDI issues
The College’s four staff networks – LGBTQ+; disability and long-term conditions; parents; and racial equality – provide an opportunity for staff to share experiences of working at the College, raise awareness of EDI issues, support each other, and to contribute to relevant business decisions.
Emily Lewis, LGBTQ+ Staff Network Co-chair, shares what the network has been up to over the last 12 months.
“The staff networks really help make the College feel like an inclusive place that is always developing and listening to staff. This year, LGBTQ+ Network activity included creating a toolkit to provide ideas for being an effective ally to LGBTQ+ colleagues, informed by members’ experiences.
We also had a lunchtime session delivered by Alcohol Change UK for Mental Health Awareness Week, which was really well received by staff across the College. It's been great to see the brilliant work coming from the other networks as well. We work with them and share learning where we can.”
Congress
Our new building in Union Street, London, was officially opened by Their Royal Highnesses the Princess Royal, Patron of the Royal College of Midwives (RCM), and our Patron the Duchess of Cambridge.
The building is home to the RCM as well as several charities, contributing to the College’s vision to create a centre of excellence in women’s health. There are now nine women's health charities at Union Street:
- Royal College of Midwives
- The Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Charity (Sands)
- Eve Appeal
- Best Beginnings
- Florence Nightingale Foundation
- Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare
- Wellbeing of Women
- Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust
- Endometriosis UK
- Group B Strep Support
This has helped to establish Union Street as a hub for women’s health.
Here, our partners, who we are honoured to share our building with, discuss our Union Street community.
“From an initial visit to the new Royal College of Gynaecologists headquarters, it was clear to us that the women’s health hub would be an excellent location for Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust. The opportunity to work alongside colleagues from other women’s health charities as well as partners from the Royal Colleges was too good to miss. We have already seen the fruits from closer partnership working in helping us to achieve our vision: the elimination of cervical cancer.”
“Wellbeing of Women is so excited to be part of the new women’s health hub with like-minded organisations. Working in the same space enables us to come together and have an even stronger voice to advocate for the needs of women, girls and babies. We are working even more closely with existing partners and have forged new collaborations. We look forward to working with even more organisations to further advance the future of women’s health.”
“The College has committed to reducing its carbon footprint in its strategic goals. Several initiatives are already showing results, including improvements to building operations, and reducing waste. We have cut single-use plastic and have plants to encourage wildlife and bees on the roof of our head office at Union Street.”
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