David Sowden, the Senior Responsible Owner for the government’s Modernising Medical Careers programme, said that the target of implementing the 48 hour working week Working Time Directive (WTD) by August 2009 ‘is not rocket science’. He made this statement at a conference hosted by the Department of Health’s EWTD and Modernising Medical Careers teams last month entitled ‘Maximising Training within a 48 hour working week’.
“I am quite disappointed that people have not taken this on board fully, it is not rocket science, the service as a whole do not seem to have grasped a full understanding of this issue,” he said.
Professor Sowden said that adhering to the 2009 deadline was imperative in order to affect change in the working practices of the NHS.
“Deadlines do drive change. Commissioners must now hold the organisations they are commissioning from to account for introducing and implementing the WTD,” he added.
He said that the directive would act as a strong impetus for NHS trusts to ‘implement things that make a difference to patient care’.
Andrew Thornley, chair of the British Medical Association’s junior doctors’ committee added: “Putting off [implementing the directive until 2012] is just not an option.”
Dr Thornley admitted that complying with the directive by August 2009 would be ‘a bit of a struggle’ but said it had to be done.
He added that ultimately introducing a 48 hour maximum working week was an ‘opportunity to improve quality of life and work life balance [for doctors] and improve patient safety and care’.
Dr Charles Swainson, medical director at NHS Lothian and chair of Postgraduate Medical Education and Training Board’s (PMETB) education and training subgroup, suggested that the legislation should be ‘framed in health and safety’ in order to convince NHS trust chief executives of the need to implement it on time.
“There is a huge amount that has to change in terms of the way in which the workforce is organised and training is delivered. There is an awful lot to do before next year,” he warned.
Working Time Directive 2009 
