Study shows cut to junior doctors' hours does not compromise patients' safety

Research presented at the Skills for Health - Workforce Projects Team's Working Time Directive 2009 Exhibition: The Final Countdown at the ExCeL in London has found that reducing the hours of junior doctors does not compromise patients’ safety and could even dramatically cut mistakes on wards.

The research led by Francesco P Cappuccio, Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine & Epidemiology at the University of Warwick’s Warwick Medical School, observed nineteen junior doctors working two different schedules.

The study was carried out at the University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire NHS Trust, a 1,250-bed hospital in Coventry, over a 12-week period in 2007. Nine junior doctors were studied while working a Working Time Directive (WTD) 2009 compliant schedule of less than 48 hours per week on average. The other 10 were studied while working a more traditional schedule of an average of 56 scheduled hours a week.

Under the traditional 56 hour rota, scheduled weekly work hours ranged from 30 to 77 hours per week, with 25% of work weeks lasting longer than 58 hours. In contrast, the 48 hour rota ranged from just 26 to 60 hours a week (with only 2% of weeks with work lasting longer than 58 hours per week).

Speaking at the exhibition Professor Cappuccio said, "We found that on a WTD 2009 compliant rota junior doctors’ sleep time per day tended to be longer than on a traditional rota. This would appear to have an impact on the patient care delivery of junior doctors."

The research found that the shorter work rotas delivered a significant improved impact on patient care as the junior doctors on the shorter rotas made 32.7 percent fewer total medical errors than those on the normal rota. Patients were not put at significant risk by any medical errors made by any of the junior doctors during the study as such errors were noted and responded to by nurses and senior doctors working alongside the junior staff and by reviewing case notes at all times during the 12 weeks of observation.

The study was conducted by researchers from the University of Warwick’s Warwick Medical School, Harvard Medical School, the University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire NHS Trust in the UK and the UK’s Royal College of Physicians and was funded by the Workforce Projects Team.

Note for editors
For further information on the study please contact:

Peter Dunn, Press and Media Relations Manager,
Communications Office,
University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL
024 76 523708 or 07767 655860
email: p.j.dunn@warwick.ac.uk

For further information about WTD 2009 please contact:

Workforce Projects Team - Skills for Health
Tel: 0161 266 2365
workforceprojectsteam@skillsforhealth.org.uk

Skills for Health - Workforce Projects Team aims to support the health service in adopting a sustainable approach to workforce planning. This is carried out through developing a number of projects that are designed to provide the NHS with practical tools and resources that can be implemented across the service. They are also lead organisation is supporting the NHS develop solutions and new ways of working to meet the European Working Time Directive 2009.