Fears EU ruling will hit NHS battle against flu

Published on Saturday 1 August 2009 20:01

MEDICS warned yesterday that new rules limiting the number of hours junior doctors can work could cause chaos across the health service.

The EU regulations, which came into force yesterday, slash the working week from 56 to 48 hours.

The Royal College of Surgeons and pressure group RemedyUK have warned that the European Working Time Directive (EWTD) could wreak havoc if there is a second wave of swine flu in the autumn.

Dr Andy Thornley, chairman of the British Medical Association's junior doctors' committee, repeated fears that doctors may have been asked to lie about their hours and warned of potential gaps in rotas.

In May, a poll found some junior doctors had been told to say they were meeting the new rules "on paper" when in fact they were working longer hours.

Dr Thornley said: "Our members are worried about their training; many feel it has reduced in quality as working hours have been reduced.

Junior doctors are also deeply concerned that patient services could be affected in trusts that have not properly prepared for the working time directive."

However, NHS Employers insist the plans have been in place for a long time and the NHS will be able to cope.

Yesterday, the think tank Open Europe, which is calling for reform of the European Union, said the rules could cost the equivalent of thousands of new doctors.

Its research director, Mats Persson, said: "Smack in the middle of a swine flu pandemic, not to mention a recession, these stringent new rules could not come at a worse time.

"This scenario was unforeseeable when EU ministers rubber-stamped these rules in Brussels almost a decade ago, but underlines precisely the reason why governments must be extremely careful when signing up to laws in Europe."

Last week, RemedyUK called for special measures to bypass the reduction in the working week.

It warned that front-line doctors have a high risk of exposure to swine flu as a result of dealing with ill patients. The impact of sick leave in the winter months calls into question how the NHS will be able to continue to deliver services, it said.

John Black, president of the Royal College of Surgeons, said: "It is a great shame that the government has decided to ignore surgeons and press ahead with working restrictions that are bad for patient care, bad for surgical training and ironically bad for the lifestyle of the trainees themselves."