EU rules on doctors' hours 'killing patients'

Published on Saturday 10 October 2009 23:22

CUTTING doctors' working hours in line with EU rules is costing lives, according to evidence from the Royal College of Surgeons.

The professional body says the government has misled the public and doctors have been forced to break rules to maintain levels of care because the 48-hour working week limit has left hospitals so stretched.

A survey of 800 NHS surgeons released today shows almost two-thirds of those questioned believed quality of care has deteriorated since the European directive.

Launching the rules for junior doctors in August, the government claimed patient safety would not be compromised – but, two months on, experts now say the public were misled.

John Black, president of the Royal College of Surgeons, said: "We now have the ridiculous situation where the Department of Health in public moralises over fears that trainees are being coerced into working over 48 hours while privately relying on these doctors to stay longer or cover additional dead-end shifts as locums because there is no way the service could keep running otherwise."

More than 100 hospital rotas have applied to break the legislation because they are so stretched, according to the Royal College of Surgeons.

More than half of consultants said compliance with the European Working Time Regulation has been achieved at the expense of patient safety.

Black said: "We now have a clear message from the frontline that patient care is being made significantly less safe through systems that lead to poor continuity of care, the loss of teams and 'wildcat' closure of services."

The Department of Health said it had received no evidence that the directive was not working.

A government spokeswoman said: "Our overriding priority will continue to be ensuring that patients experience high-quality, safe and effective care in the NHS.