Team24 News Article - New EU Directive Offers a Healthy Outlook for Niche Recruitment Companies l...( The European...),Health

The European Working Time Directive states that by 1 August 2009 all doctors in training should be working a 48-hour week. Aimed at protecting trainee doctors' health and safety from the effects of working long hours, recruitment industry leaders are also seeing this move as a great opportunity, writes Robert Stiff MD Team24.

(PRWeb UK) July 22, 2009 -- The image of the dishevelled, tired and overworked junior doctor has been going through something of a transformation in recent years. The European Working Time Directive (EWTD) originally became enshrined in British law - and applicable to the majority of British workers - during October 1998. Junior doctors, however, were not included until May 2000, when they were allowed to work 58 hours a week. This was reduced to 56 hours a week in 2007 - and now, under the new rules which take affect from 1 August 2009 - junior doctors will be bound by the maximum 48-hour week.

Is it good news, doctor?

This is widely being seen as good news for junior doctors, and has the full support of the British Medical Association, who announced its view that "better-rested doctors provide better patient care - and the ability of doctors to learn is vastly improved when they are well rested." In addition, a recent report by the Conference of Postgraduate Medical Education Deans (COPMED) shows that it is possible to continue to ensure that trainee doctors receive high quality training if all available training opportunities are open to them and are used.

A recent article published in People Management stated that the NHS Employers organisation has played down concerns that junior doctors' training will suffer as a result of the directive coming into play - instead, it said: "Increasing the flexibility in doctors' training is the way to gain experience not a reliance on a "retrograde" long-hours culture." All interes
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