Health: Doctors given new guidance on intimate moments

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists is calling for a series of changes in the way intimate examinations are carried out. The move is a response to reports that women are frequently left traumatised, angry and confused by the experience.

Among the most radical of the suggestions is for a chaperone to be present while the examination is being carried out, regardless of whether the doctor is male or female. "Chaperones are the ultimate safeguard for the patient against abuse during examination," the college advises.

The new guidelines aim to make women more at ease and are a response to a directive from the British Medical Association to the Royal Colleges to establish standards of good practice.

Doctors have been advised not to discuss a woman's body weight until after she has dressed, even if it has a relevance to her gynaecological problems. They have also been warned about being patronising.

Dr Patricia Crowley, the chairman of the committee that produced the guide, said: "There are some doctors who out of habit call patients 'dear' or 'love' and it could be interpreted as condescending ...

"It is particularly important during intimate examinations, which doctors may be doing on automatic pilot. It may be open to misinterpretation, so it is a time to be more formal."

To underline the point, the guidelines stress: "It should be very clear to the patient that any questions asked during the examination are entirely technical, relating to the site and quality of the pain, and that the women's feelings and sexual response are not being discussed."

Dr Crowley added that much of the information in the report was common sense but had never been formally written down before.

The report also addresses the controversial issue of training medical students conducting intimate examinations, which Dr Crowley said had to be carefully balanced with the need not to exploit the woman patient.