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Employment lawLatest NewsWorking Time Regulations

Long hours could land NHS in court

by Personnel Today 20 Sep 2005
by Personnel Today 20 Sep 2005

NHS Trusts risk legal action by allowing junior doctors to deliberately breach the European Working Time Directive (WTD), according to a new study.

The current implementation of the WTD, which came into force last year, requires juniors to take 11 hours of rest within any 24-hour period, to work no more than 58 hours a week and to count rest time at work as working time.

But a survey of trainee surgeons, part of a paper submitted to the Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, reveals that 77% admitted working in breach of the directive. With official compliance rates at around 90%, the report said juniors might be falsifying monitoring forms to further their training.

One of the 44 respondents said trainees could not achieve satisfactory competence working to the WTD-compliant timetables.

NHS Employers deputy director Alastair Henderson said that while it was important that junior doctors properly record all their working hours and comply with the WTD, the onus ultimately rests with employers.

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“Those responsible for junior doctors have a responsibility to ensure this is done properly,” he said. “If the Health & Safety Executive discovers a breach, it has the power to fine an employer. However, everyone, including junior doctors, has the option of formally opting out of the working time directive.”

Professor John Macfie, editorial secretary to the Association of Surgeons and one of the report’s authors, said he hoped the results would pressurise politicians to ask for the WTD to be redrafted.

Personnel Today

Personnel Today articles are written by an expert team of award-winning journalists who have been covering HR and L&D for many years. Some of our content is attributed to "Personnel Today" for a number of reasons, including: when numerous authors are associated with writing or editing a piece; or when the author is unknown (particularly for older articles).

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