Who are you and where do you work?

 I am Dr Elizabeth J (Bitty) Muller – a general practitioner who works in Lichfield, Staffordshire, England. I am a half time partner in my practice – which serves a medium sized city in the Midlands of England.

 What do you like about the work you do?

 I love the variety of general practice, and the continuity if care, and the fact that a great deal of my work is relationship based. I have a specialist interest in dermatology, women’s health and addictions, and can incorporate all of those interests into my working day. I also enjoy teaching, and am a GP trainer and GP Vocational Training Scheme Course Organiser – running the training course for young doctors wishing to become GPs.

 What are your main challenges?

 Time! There never seems to be quite enough of it! But the changes to the GP contract mean that we no longer have to do out of hours work, and this has freed me up to be able to keep up with lots of other work related tasks, and occasionally I do find time to work in my garden and tidy the house!

How does being a woman family physician affect your work and homelife?

 When I had young children it was always a guilt ridden time when work kept me away from home (particularly during school holidays). I found it difficult to go to meetings that took place overnight or conferences abroad. And when the day’s work ran on longer than expected there were always complications with childcare. Nights on call were a nightmare – we had to have a babysitter in overnight just in case both I and my husband (also a GP in a different practice) were called out at the same time.

Now that my children are grown up I find that they were very proud of having a mother who was a busy GP. Their friends consult me at times, and I think my interest in substance misuse started up because I was aware that teenagers these days do experiment with drugs, and I thought they deserved a good service if they did run into trouble!

A woman family physician has to have an interest in women’s health too. Luckily I enjoy that part of the work. As I have become older I now see more women with menopausal symptoms and such like; when I was younger it was the pregnant mothers who consulted and those with pre-menstrual tension!

My career was later starting than that of my husband – which means that I may want to continue working longer then him when we get to retirement age – only 5 years away if we decide to retire at 60!

 What interests you about the WONCA Working Party for Women in Family Medicine?

I have always been a feminist, and interested in women’s issues. My mother was a frustrated woman doctor (anaesthetist during the war, but unable to find medical work that suited her after moving to South Africa and starting a family there far from family support), and have felt a sisterhood with other women doctors ever since I qualified (Cape Town 1975). I have worked at Deanery level to improve things for women doctors in the UK (particularly those who work as part time salaried assistants in practices). Women doctors in the UK now have a fairly good deal, but I am aware that women doctors in other parts of the world still struggle with male dominated cultures (which can affect career progression) and the multiple roles that we try to fill in our rather perfectionist ways – doctor/ mother/ housekeeper/ taxi service/ wife/ manager etc etc. We want to do ALL those jobs to the best of our ability – the juggling can be tiring and difficult, but women doctors seem to manage with style & panache! I always enjoy attending meetings for Women doctors (Medical Women’s federation/ Medical Women’s international conferences) – it is so good to meet and share ways of managing our work and home lives. The WONCA Working Party for Women in Family Medicine list serve is a great way of keeping in touch with one another, and issues of importance to women family doctors. It also helps me to keep in touch with what happened at the conferences when I have not been able to get to them!