The Homerton open day

On a cold Tuesday in November, 30 NHS colleagues made their way to a shining European Working Time Directive (EWTD) outpost in East London, The Homerton University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, to hear from the coalface what implementing EWTD 2009 is all about.

John Coakley, medical director, led a team of consultants, junior doctors and other medical staff, along with James McQuillan, project manager, to achieve compliance two years ahead of the August 2009 deadline.

‘The Homerton’s response to EWTD 2009’ was a one day event providing first hand experience from Miss Helen Pardoe, consultant surgeon, Dr Christine Blanshard, consultant physician, Dr Robert Ghosh, lead clinician ACU and Dr Raseen Khan, junior doctor, all of whom were involved in the project from 2006 and earlier.

The consultants discussed the importance of groundwork/data relating to the current activities of the hospital and its staff, as opposed to working on hearsay. From an evidential starting point it is possible to implement the right solution for your hospital/trust. Everyone stressed that the journey had not been easy and things didn’t always go right first time but with enthusiasm and flexibility the outcome has proved to be better than past practices.

There were plenty of questions and answers about the practicalities of separating acute and emergency medicine and junior doctor rotas and training, along with consultant involvement in EWTD compliant working. You can see the presentations at www.healthcareworkforce.nhs.uk/homertonevent

The event will be repeated on 27th March 2009.

Contact patricia.mustafa@homerton.nhs.uk for details.