According to a report by BMJ Careers, England’s NHS has neither a national nor a regional oversight of whether the 48 hours a week limit stipulated in the European Working Time Directive (EWTD) is complied with by junior doctor’s schedules, in contrast to governments in Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, who regularly collect and review data on whether rotas are compliant with the “new deal” contract for doctors in training, which is used as a proxy for compliance with the 48 hour limit in the EWTD.

England’s hospital trusts cancelled the previously submitted “ministerial return” on compliance with the EWTD in August 2010 “to reduce bureaucracy.”

Because of this, the department in England was unable to provide BMJ Careers with any data of rotas compliant with the directive.

In Wales, the compliance of junior doctor rotas working for the health department is 100%, whereas Scotland has a compliance rate of 99% and Northern Ireland of 78% respectively.

In addition the report states, that not one of the 10 strategic health authorities in England collects compliance data from trusts, with many responding that information like this was only available at a trust level.

Dr Shree Datta, co-chair of the BMA’s Junior Doctors Committee commented:

“I think we’re talking about patient safety as well as doctor safety, so it would be really useful to see the ministerial returns back in place.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Health in England commented on the situation stating:

“As part of the government’s commitment to reduce bureaucracy in the NHS, the Secretary of State has stopped the central collection of new deal compliance data which was used as a proxy to demonstrate compliance with the working time directive. Local organizations are still required to ensure compliance with the working time directive and to monitor that compliance.”

Written by Petra Rattue