Opportunity 2000 in the National Health Service
| Date | 01 March 1995 |
| Published date | 01 March 1995 |
| Pages | 23-37 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/01425459510085894 |
| Author | Susan Corby |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour |
Opportunity
2000 in the NHS
23
Opportunity 2000 in the
National Health Service: a
missed opportunity for women
Susan Corby
Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK
Opportunity 2000 is a nationwide, Government and business-supported
voluntary campaign aimed at increasing the quantity and quality of women’s
participation in the workforce by the year 2000. In the NHS, Opportunity 2000
initially took the form of eight goals to be achieved in England by the end of
1994 as milestones towards the year 2000. These goals concentrate on
improving the quality, and not the quantity, of women’s work as the NHS is the
largest employer of women in Western Europe.
This article shows that the NHS is failing to meet at least some of its
Opportunity 2000 goals and, overall, the position is patchy. The reasons for
failure partly relate to the context, including the autonomy of trusts in an NHS
restructured on quasi-market lines, and partly to the failure of NHS managers
to implement Opportunity 2000. Partly, however, the NHS Opportunity 2000’s
lack of success stems from inherent flaws: for example its business case
rationale is less than convincing to many health professionals who attach a high
value to ethical considerations. Also, partly, reasons for failure relate to factors
common to other equality programmes, whether or not they come under the
Opportunity 2000 banner, such as a value system which sees the male career
pattern as the norm. Acco rdingly, the article concludes that movement towards
equality for women in the NHS is only likely to be made if there is a different
approach to goal setting.
Context
Women comprise 79 per cent out of a total NHS staff of just over one million.
There is a marked concentration of women in four occupations: nursing and
midwifery (90 per cent female), professions allied to medicine (88 per cent),
administrative and clerical (84 per cent) and ancillary staff (74 per cent).
Nursing and midwifery, with some 500,000 employees, is the largest
occupational group in the NHS. Women, however, are not well represented in all
NHS occupational groups. They form a small proportion of doctors (26 per
cent), ambulance staff (21 per cent), works staff (7 per cent) and maintenance
staff (5 per cent). Moreover women are in a minority in senior positions. For
Employee Relations, Vol. 17 No. 2,
1995, pp. 23-37. © MCBUniversity
Press, 0142-5455
The author would like to thank John Kawalek, senior lecturer at the Manchester Metropolitan
University, and students on the BSc (Hons) business information technology course for their
analysis of the responses to the questionnaires and to the Editor for his helpful comments.
Received September 1994
Received January 1995
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