21.12.17
BMA ‘deeply concerned’ by reports of working time regulations removal
The British Medical Association (BMA) has cautioned against the removal of the working time regulations (WTR) from British law following Brexit.
In a letter to the prime minister, Dr. Chaand Nagpul, chair of the BMA, has stressed that the WTR protects staff from overworking, and ensures patients are not cared for by overtired doctors and nurses.
The letter follows recent reports of support from within the government of removing the WTR from UK law, following its departure from the European Union, which Nagpul and signatories from 12 royal colleges and trade unions said in the letter that they are “deeply concerned” by.
The letter to Theresa May reads: “Dealing with and preventing the effects of excessive working is crucial not only because of the impact on individuals and their families, but also because of the wider consequences it poses to patient safety.
“25 years ago, the phenomenon of health professionals working 90 hour weeks, and the attendant risks this posed, was all too common in the NHS.
“The worst excesses of these working arrangements were only curtailed following the arrival of EU-derived legislation limiting hours in the form of the WTR.”
Even with the regulations in place, the authors of the letter said that fatigue amongst NHS staff as a result of excessive overwork remains an “occupational hazard.”
The letter urges the prime minister not to renege on her commitment to guarantee existing working rights post-Brexit.
Nagpaul said: “We can all agree that no one wants a return to the days where doctors and nurses were working 90 hour weeks – it would be bad for patient safety, bad for staff and bad for the NHS.”
However, a spokesperson for the Royal College of Surgeons said that the WTR has had a detrimental effect on the training of many doctors and the continuity of patient care.
“By limiting the amount of hours someone can train and creating inflexible shift working patterns, we have undermined the ability of doctors to receive high quality education and training in the UK.
“This is compounded by the increasingly significant requirements that under pressure hospitals place on young doctors to run wards on a day-to-day basis alongside their training,” they explained.
The spokesperson said that the college uses the government to consider how to strengthen and enhance working rules in the NHS, adding: “They should reconsider the Taskforce’s recommendations, including the potential for separating education and working time and maintaining an individual’s ability to opt-out of working limits.”
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