Year: 2010
Type: editorial
Abstract: The European Working Time Directive (EWTD) was introduced in the UK in 1998.1 The legislation supports proposals made 5 years earlier in the European Union as part of the Social Chapter of the Maastricht Treaty to protect workers from being compelled to work excessive hours. Even at this early stage the potential implications for medical training and practice were recognised.2 Doctors in training were seen as a special group and the Directive acknowledged the need to protect continuity in a number of settings. However, there is now increasing evidence that the Directive is having serious adverse effects on both medical training and patient care. Described by an anonymous senior manager as ‘the worst legislation ever inflicted on the NHS’, the Directive limits hours of work to an average of 48 each week. Why 48? We do not know how this figure was plucked out of the air, but the legislation was clearly not designed for the professions, particularly those with 24-hour responsibility for sick patients. Hospitals in the rest of Europe either ignore the Directive, or use the opportunities for voluntary opt-out. The present …
Authors: John Black, Roger Jones
Institution: Royal College of Surgeons of England
Language: English
Subfield: Emergency Medicine
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2113709662