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Limit on doctors' hours 'will hit waiting lists'
Sophie Goodchild12 Mar 2009
A senior surgeon has warned that rules limiting the hours doctors work will mean that efforts to reduce waiting lists will "go out of the window".
The European Working Time Directive, which is meant to be in force by August, is designed to limit the hours worked by employees in EU countries to 48 per week.
But junior doctors work more than this and John Black, president of the Royal College of Surgeons, told the Daily Telegraph that if the limit is enforced, doctors would be left only treating emergency cases.
Mr Black said: "Surgeons will put patient safety first and focus on looking after emergency patients. All the progress on reducing waiting lists will go out of the window. Forty eight hours for surgeons is currently insane if we want to maintain surgery in the NHS."
On Tuesday, shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley told a House of Commons debate about the directive to listen to the college's concerns.
Mr Lansley warned: "It will have damaging effects on the management of the health service and with serious potential implications for patient safety."
But Health Secretary Alan Johnson said the NHS was prepared to comply with the directive by August.
He said that the Government has notified the European Commission that it plans to operate a "derogation" of the rule where there is shortage of trainee doctors so that they can work for 56 hours a week.
But he added that he did not agree with the college that the whole NHS should be able to opt out of the new rule so that surgeons could work 65 to 70 hours per week.
