The doctor said that if I was having problems with sex the hospital had creams to help me, but nothing else was said

Patient

They quizzed 15 female patients with ovarian cancer and 43 doctors and nurses about how the subject of sexual functioning was discussed.

Some of the female patients felt uncomfortable about discussing sex, but felt that the benefits would outweigh any embarrassment.

Limited time

The patients said that they were only given a limited amount of time to discuss the issue.

Talking about sexual issues is too embarrassing

Health professional

Many did not ask for extensive information, but said all they needed was a few words of reassurance, both about the safety of having sex and that their problems were not unique.

All but one of the healthcare professionals thought that medical staff should discuss psychosexual issues.

However, only four doctors and one in five nurses actually did so.

The researchers also found that doctors and nurses had a poor knowledge of the subject - few were actually aware of the problems that can occur.

The researchers, led by Maxine Stead, from the Northern and Yorkshire Clinical Trials and Research Unit at Leeds, say that healthcare professionals need training to help them communicate more comfortably about sexual issues.

Ms Stead told BBC News Online: "Society is changing, and talking about sexual activity is not such a taboo, but some doctors and nurses are simply not trained to talk about it.

"If women could talk to somebody it would help them to understand that they are not alone, that a lot of women face the same problems, and that could help to cope a bit more and not be so shocked when problems do occur."

There is a myth that doctors can talk about anything at all, but they can be embarrassed at much as anybody else

Dr Ian Banks

Dr Ian Banks, a trustee of the Doctor Patient Partnership, told BBC News Online that the public wrongly assumed that doctors were comfortable talking about any subject.

He said: "There is a myth that doctors can talk about anything at all, but they can be embarrassed at much as anybody else."

Dr Banks said it was also possible that doctors simply did not have time to address every aspect of a condition during an average seven minute consultation.

"It may be that doctors or nurses do not think that sexual function is as important as other issues such as compliance with medication."

However, he agreed that the only way to tackle the problem was through better training - probably given by outside experts who would have different perspective from medical school teachers.

The research is published in the British Medical Journal.