Junior doctors still working long hours

July 6 2003 - Thousands of junior doctors are still working outside agreed safe limits on hours, according to Paul Thorpe, chairman of the British Medical Association's Junior Doctors Committee.

Addressing the BMA's Annual Representatives Meeting, he revealed that the British Medical Association's cohort study of medical graduates showed that more than half of senior house officers and registrars were typically working above the 56 hour weekly limit - and nearly one quarter worked over 70 hours a week.

It seems that many of the 487 doctors who took part in the survey did not believe that their hours were accurately monitored by their National Health Service trust. More than a quarter said they had faced difficulties being allocated to a pay band that accurately reflected their hours of work.

One fifth had changed their career plans during the last year because of unsociable hours, working conditions, or domestic circumstances. Nine were planning to leave medicine altogether - the highest recorded since the study began in 1995.

Almost 7 out of 10 doctors said they had made a decision to enter a certain specialty because of hours and working conditions, with only three out of ten saying that they had made the decision because they enjoyed the speciality.

Over 40% of the GP registrars in the cohort were planning to work as locums, study further, or travel. "Flexibility" was given as the most common reason for working as a locum instead of becoming a full-time GP. Just a fifth of the doctors were currently working less than full-time but half - including four in ten of the male doctors - indicated that they would like to work part-time in future.

Seven years after graduating from medical school, only two thirds of the doctors still had a strong desire to practise medicine, with women more likely to feel frustrated with their working lives. Reasons for dissatisfaction included workload, increased pressure to meet targets, and a desire for better work-life balance.

Paul Thorpe said: "These statistics are a cause for concern. It is appalling that so many doctors are still working outside safe limits on hours seven years after they were due to be delivered. Mr Milburn chose to spend more time with his family, but due to his government's failure to put in place resources that will allow flexible training, these opportunities are too often denied to junior doctors."

He also told the Annual Representatives Meeting that any new consultant contract would need to recognise the growing need for flexibility, and that junior doctors would continue to support consultants. "Do not think that the government can try to introduce a contract discriminating against new consultants or failing to recognise their need for family-friendly hours" he said.

This was Paul Thorpe's last speech chairman of the BMA's Junior Doctors Committee. He has left his post as an orthopaedic surgeon in Bristol and will be leaving the UK soon to practise in Australia.