With less than 250 days to go until all junior doctors in Scotland will be restricted to working a maximum of 48 hours a week, BMA Scotland today (28 November 2008) warns that Scotland's Health Boards are not ready.

The deadline for full compliance with the European Working Time Directive for doctors in training is August 2009. However, 49% of Scotland's junior doctors are currently employed on rotas that exceed the 48 hour limit.

BMA Scotland is concerned that Scotland's Health Boards are still not prepared for this change and urges them to take action now, rather than compromise patient care by breaching health and safety legislation next year.

Dr Alan Robertson, Chair of the BMA's Scottish Junior Doctor Committee said:

"The BMA is calling on the Scottish Government to ensure that Health Boards have plans in place to deal with the changes coming into effect in August 2009. Despite having had eight years to formulate a plan, they are still not ready and now have less than 250 days left. Plans must be tested in advance of the deadline to guarantee that they are robust and effective. This will allow any service gaps to be detected and filled prior to the start of the new limit being introduced, ensuring that patient care is not compromised."

The BMA is also campaigning to ensure that training quality is not damaged by Health Boards in their preparations for the changes. With reduced working hours, junior doctors need sufficient time for "hands-on" training to ensure that they have the skills and experience to become fully trained consultants and GPs. If the standard of training is not maintained it will be to the detriment of patient care, and this is not acceptable.

Dr Robertson added:

"The 48 hour working limit is going to have a massive impact on training and service delivery and the NHS is not yet prepared. In less than 250 days, there will be a dramatic reduction in the availability of junior doctors to deliver patient care and that gap must be filled. In order to do this effectively, NHS Boards must develop plans in partnership with the profession. This must not be tackled at the last minute."

A new BMAScotland TV channel on Youtube, also launched today, features an interview with Dr Alan Robertson on the subject of the European Working Time Directive.

Notes

- The BMA Scotland briefing on European Working Time Directive is available here.

- BMA Scotland webcast on the EWTD is available here.

- The European Working Time Directive (EWTD) is designed to protect the health and safety of workers by restricting the number of hours an individual can work and imposing minimum rest requirements on all workers. The EWTD dictates how many hours an employee can work and how much rest they should take. It is enshrined in UK and European law and is therefore a legal requirement. Further details are available here.

- It was agreed that the EWTD for junior doctors would be implemented gradually over five years. This meant that the limitation to 48 hours work per week would only be introduced in August 2009. An interim 58 hour week was applicable from August 2004 - this reduced further to a 56 hour week in August 2007. However, doctors in training were already restricted, under the New Deal contract, to no more than 56 hours a week.

British Medical Association