This is an updated version of an article first published in the BMJ two and a half years ago.1 It has been revised to incorporate changes in the system over the past two years, to include all training grades, and to include information on likely changes flowing from the new specialist registrar grade.

Part time training posts are advertised in the BMJ each year in August or September in an advertisement placed by the Department of Health. Although the advertisement is placed by the department and manpower approvals are allocated centrally, each region runs its own scheme, and the first person to approach is the regional postgraduate dean (most regions have an assistant dean responsible for flexible training). If an application is successful then part time trainees are interviewed by the same appointments committee as full time applicants and they are judged by the same criteria. Manpower approval is granted to applicants who reach the same standard as full time applicants, but there may be a waiting list if there are more suitable applicants than training places available. The next stage is to gain educational approval from the relevant higher training committee for the proposed training programme, followed by funding from the region.

Over the past 50 years there has been a radical change in the background of women doctors. They are no longer those few academically minded single women who gave up their potential roles as wives and mothers to compete on equal terms with men. Nowadays, women coming into medicine expect to combine domestic responsibilities with a successful career. Alas, it is not always that straightforward.2 3 4 5

Nevertheless, it is now recognised that a valuable resource will be squandered if women, or those with a disability, are lost to the National Health Service. Recent …