The European Working Time Directive and working hours
The RCP supports the principle of working hours which improve patient safety, promote high quality training and allow for a balanced life.
The reduction to 48 hours imposed by the European Working Time Regulations (EWTR), whilst seemingly a good principle, has been unable to achieve any of these for junior doctors because of the following:
- Inflexibility of rotas and classification of 'working hours' under the SiMAP and Jaeger rulings
- Punitive banding of jobs under the New Deal which forces hospitals to employ doctors in rotas which restrict training and work/life balance
- Historical over-reliance on trainee doctors for service provision (especially overnight)
The RCP is working with other Colleges, the Department of Health and the European Commission to address these issues. The RCP also continues to gather evidence on current working practices to provide recommendations for safe medical staffing levels, especially at night and at the weekend.
However, the long-term solution to the problems created by restricted working hours is the expansion of the consultant workforce to allow a consultant delivered service. This will take many years to achieve but will reduce reliance on junior doctors for service provision, thus improving patient safety and increasing the time available for high quality training.
