Welcome to the December 2008 edition of the Working Time Directive (WTD) bulletin.

With less than eight months to go to the introduction of WTD 2009, may everyone at Skills for Health - Workforce Projects Team wish you and your colleagues a very merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous 2009.

As the countdown to 1st August continues, we will continue to provide the latest information, learning and good practice through our regular bulletins from the healthcare workforce portal

Rota Design workshops
Ensuring that rotas for doctors in training are WTD 2009 compliant can prove difficult for any trust.

To aid this process, Workforce Projects Team has commissioned four workshops across England focusing on tools, techniques and resources available to assist trusts address issues of non compliant working patterns. The workshops will be held in January and February 2009. They aim to equip those working within trusts who have responsibility for supporting the process of developing WTD 2009 compliant rotas. Our London workshop is now fuly booked and there are only a few places left on the Manchester, so register your interest soon to avoid disappointment.

Register your interest >>>

South East Coast SHA - Improving Doctors' Training within the European Working Time Directive
This one day event is aimed at both doctors and managers with a focus on improving the quality of doctors' training whilst working a 48 hour week. For many trusts this is a challenge. We will hear about these challenges from David Sowden, senior responsible officer, MMC and Ram Moorthy, former chair, BMA Junior Doctors Committee, and from trusts, both local and further afield, on how some have been able to change the way they work to support training and WTD. There is no one solution, different specialties and trusts will need to work differently depending on their needs.
Date: 23rd January

Come along to hear more, get your views across and help develop local solutions >>>

Click here for other WTD and Workforce Projects Team events >>>>

Taking Care 24/7
Practical approaches to reaching compliance are also available via our range of pilot sites on the portal. One of the most successful WTD pilot sites, Homerton University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, held a one day event in November to discuss how it has achieved European Working Time Directive compliance for its doctors in training over 18 months early. Hear how restructuring a busy district general hospital's elective and emergency patient care contributed to this achievement.

View the presentations >>>

Calling Time 13
The brand new edition of Calling Time will be released in January and features a host of articles that can help you and your organisation achieve WTD compliance.

Whilst unlucky for some, the 13th edition of the magazine commemorates the fantastic achievement of the Hospital at Night programme of care, which was highly commended in the Patient Safety category of the 2008 Health Service Journal Awards.

Calling Time also features case studies from a number of pilot sites, questions from healthcare staff, plus a very special WTD toolkit that includes a wide selection of tips and suggestions to achieve compliance.

View the Calling Time section for previous editions >>>