Call for linked maternity rights

Doctors who move between university research roles and positions within the national health services in the UK or Ireland must be given secure maternity benefits, a leading surgeon has said.

Helen Mohan, a colorectal and general surgery registrar in Ireland, told the Women in Surgery Symposium in Telford on 5 October that parity was needed between academia and the health services.

Some doctors move repeatedly between universities and the NHS throughout their training and academic careers, but they can lose important benefits when they switch employers. Some universities require a certain period of service before an employee qualifies for maternity pay beyond statutory, for example, and taking an academic contract can be counted as a break in continuous employment by the NHS.