Medical negligence could rise under working time directive

Published on 18 Jun 2010 under category: legal

Junior doctors need to have their workload reduced, according to one organisation.

An independent review published last week by Medical Education England examined the impact of the European Working Time Directive (EWTD) on the training of junior doctors.

Under the EWTDM, employees should no longer be allowed to work more than 48 hours a week, which could affect out-of-hours care.

Commenting on the report, a spokesperson for the industry body, the British Medical Association (BMA), said that fitting in training within the new restricted hours was feasible, but there would have to be an overhaul of how services are delivered.

"The report recommends the implementation of a consultant-delivered service, something that has been long advocated by the BMA.

"It is crucial that we work towards this in a systematic fashion investing in consultant expertise to deliver high quality care for patients," they said.

Charges of medical negligence could increase under the new directive as training hours become limited.

The review said that shifting the burden of out-of-hours care from junior doctors to consultants would "lead to better quality of diagnosis, better decision making and better patient outcomes and safety".

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