WOMEN WHO are public patients are more likely to be offered a chaperone when undergoing intimate gynaecological examinations than are private patients, according to a study.
The national study of the practices of obstetricians and gynaecologists found that 52 per cent of them always used a chaperone in public practice in contrast to 27 per cent in private practice.
Among male clinicians, 75 per cent always used a chaperone in public practice compared to 33 per cent in private practice.
Why this is so is not stated in the research carried out by doctors at Dublin’s Rotunda Hospital and published in the latest edition of the Irish Medical Journal but it is likely more staff may be in the immediate vicinity in a public hospital to allow a doctor offer a patient the option of having a third party present during an intimate examination.
The Medical Council advises that any intimate examination must be preceded by an explanation and the patient irrespective of age and gender should be offered a chaperone.
However the study found just 42 per cent of doctors surveyed offered a chaperone and among those who did, record keeping in relation to the offer was poor.
Just 4 per cent always made a note of the offer and only 1 per cent always recorded the identity of the chaperone.