Early day motion tabled by primary sponsor Martin Horwood (Liberal Democrat), on Thursday, 4 March 2010, in the House of Commons. It is signed by 38 members in total.

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SURGEONS' WORKING HOURS

That this House calls for the removal of the constraints on surgeons' working hours to a maximum of 48 hours per week imposed by the European Working Time Directive; notes the findings of a recent survey by the Royal College of Surgeons which shows that with current staffing levels it is impossible to implement a 48 hour working week and maintain good service delivery and that the new hours have led to an increase in handovers with doctors unable to follow their patient throughout surgical treatment and that the shift system for a 48 hour working week is significantly more tiring than the on-call system it replaced; and calls for an opt-out of the European Working Time Directive for surgeons and for surgeons in training to allow them to extend their working hours to a maximum of 65 hours per week, with appropriate rest breaks, so that hospitals are safely staffed to provide high quality care and continuity of care for all patients.

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Secondary information

Type

Early day motion

Reference

1012 

Session

2009-10

Other sponsors

Peter Bottomley

David Drew

Andrew George

Richard Bacon

Richard Taylor

Subjects

Business Employment Health services Standards

Link

View this Early day motion on www.parliament.uk