Male consultants treat more - study

Women treat fewer patients per year than male doctors in the most common departments such as general surgery, trauma, cardiology and paediatrics, scientists said.

The research, published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine (JRSM), found that on average, male consultants completed 160 more episodes of care each year than their female colleagues.

Dr Kamran Abbasi, editor of the JRSM, denied that the data revealed men were better doctors than women.

"They do, however, highlight potential differences in the way medical careers develop for men and women in our health service," he said.

"It will be fascinating to explore the underlying reasons for this difference in productivity. Does it mean less is more?"

Researchers from the Universities of York and Birmingham logged the number of in-patients for 7,236 male and 1,048 female consultants across 10 of the most common medical specialities.

On average, each male consultant treated 909 patients per year while female consultants treated just 744.

Professor Nick Freemantle from the University of Birmingham said: "The difference in activity between male and female consultants was striking and changed little between different medical specialties.

"Studies in the US and Canada have shown similar results, but in those systems doctors are paid by fees-for-service, so lower activity rates may represent a personal choice." He added: "It's harder to know why this difference should exist in the NHS, but it's a substantial and statistically significant difference across a wide range of medical areas."