Don't reduce doctors' hours during swine flu crisis, say campaigners

Published on Monday 27 July 2009 22:03

EUROPEAN rules that mean junior doctors can work no more than 48 hours a week should be suspended as the UK tackles the swine flu pandemic, campaigners said yesterday.

The European Working Time Directive (EWTD) has applied to most workers since 1998. It comes into force for junior doctors on Saturday.

The doctors' pressure group RemedyUK said the workload on the NHS was mounting as the number of swine flu cases increased, and staff going off sick could have a further impact.

It has called for special measures to bypass the reduction in the working week, from a maximum of 56 hours to 48 hours for junior doctors.

Individual doctors can opt out of the rules and choose to work longer, but there are calls for entire departments to be able to opt out.

It is more difficult for junior doctors to opt out of the 48-hour limit because they work a rota system, making it complicated for individuals to make this choice. If an employee makes a complaint about their working hours, it could lead to a Health and Safety Executive investigation. It can then issue a warning or prosecute an employer who does not comply.

The Royal College of Surgeons has also called on the UK government to suspend the EWTD if things get worse. More than 100,000 people a week are currently being diagnosed with swine flu in the UK.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have been hit less hard by the virus so far, but there are fears that the situation will worsen in the autumn and winter months.

RemedyUK, which has 8,000 members, warned that front-line doctors had a high risk of exposure to swine flu as a result of dealing with ill patients.

The impact of sick leave in the winter called into question how the NHS would be able to continue to deliver services, it said.

Doctors had been coping well, but, from Saturday, many would have an extra day off work every week, the group said.

Richard Marks, head of policy at RemedyUK, said cash had been spent on setting up the National Pandemic Flu Service for England, which employed people with no medical training. He said: "Millions have been spent on staff call centres using non-medical staff to diagnose and prescribe, but at the same time they are reducing doctors' working week by one full day.

"It's probably the worst time in living memory to do this," he added.

The Scottish Government said it expected 94 per cent of junior doctors to be compliant with the EWTD by the start of August.

SEND ELDERLY 'TO BACK OF QUEUE'

ELDERLY swine flu victims should be sent to the back of the queue for antiviral treatment when supplies of the drugs are limited, research suggests.

The controversial strategy could be the most-effective way to save lives and prevent illness, it was claimed. However, the research focused on Italy, said to have only enough drugs to treat 12 per cent of its population.

The Scottish Government said it currently had enough drugs to treat 50 per cent of the population, and has plans to increase stocks to cover 75 per cent by November.

Planning for the pandemic in the UK has been based on assumption that 30 per cent of people may fall ill, meaning rationing antivirals may be less of an issue.

So far, the virus appears to be striking hardest at children and people of working age.

A study in the journal Nature indicated similarities between swine flu and the virus responsible for the 1918 pandemic, which killed tens of millions and was most lethal for people in their thirties.

Stefano Merler, from the Bruno Kessler Foundation in Trento, Italy, who led the new research, said: "Although a policy of age-specific prioritisation of antiviral use will be controversial ethically, it may be the most efficient use of stockpiled therapies."