Support for changes to SiMap / Jaeger

By Tim Lund, EWTD Manager, Department of Health. The European Council of Employment Ministers has supported changes to the Working Time Directive, including:

Legal certainty for the continuation of the individual opt out
A solution to the SiMAP and Jaeger judgements, with the council calling for an end to resident on call time being counted as work and wanting flexibility over the timing of compensatory rest breaks.

This is a good outcome for the NHS after years of stalemate. However, it is just the first step on the road to amending the WTD and the dossier will proceed to the European Parliament, whose agreement is required under the co-decision process.

Any amendments to the WTD and UK Working Time Regulations will come too late to affect WTD 2009 planning and the NHS is continuing to prepare for the implementation of the 48 hour week. There are no guarantees that any amendments will add significant flexibility because the European Parliament has been reluctant to remedy SiMAP / Jaeger issues in the past.

While DH supports more flexibility in the WTD to help the minority of services that continue to struggle with SiMAP / Jaeger issues, we do not envisage a significant return to resident on call working because of any changes to the directive.

The government has sponsored the Hospital at Night and WTD pilot programmes through Skills for Health - Workforce Projects Team to ensure that the only staff on duty in hospitals are there for genuine service reasons.

Finally, I applaud the increased support to local NHS services as the Workforce Projects Team disseminates lessons from completed pilots and expands its programme of support, in partnership with the East of England team. In addition, over £100m has been allocated to PCTs this year to support local WTD solutions through the quality and reform element of the tariff.

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