§ Mr. Dobsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what is his Department's estimate of the effect of the implementation of the new medical manpower plans on the hours worked by junior doctors;
(2) what is his policy in relation to the proposed goal of 80 hours work a week maximum for junior hospital doctors recommended by the Social Services Committee in 1981.
§ Mr. NewtonI assume the hon. Member means 80 hours on duty. The Government have taken positive steps to encourage reductions in the excessive hours traditionally required of some junior doctors. We have banned rotas requiring juniors to be on duty on average more than one night and one weekend in two, and initiated a review of rotas more onerous than one in three. We estimate that the number of such rotas in England was reduced by some 30 per cent.—from 5,000 to 3,500—between 1983 and 1985. Average hours of duty have fallen from 91.3 in 1976 to 85.9 in 1986, while independent surveys show that the 431W average number of hours actually worked fell from 58.3 to 57 between 1981 and 1985. We have set rotas of one in three, roughly equivalent to 84 hours' duty, as a target maximum commitment for the future, and we expect health authorities to keep the need for remaining onerous rotas under continuing review.
We also want to see the hospital service developed in ways that are less heavily reliant on junior doctors. We have undertaken wide consultations on a package of measures to improve hospital medical staffing, and are now considering the outcome with representatives of the profession.
These proposals should make it possible substantially to reduce the numbers of doctors in the training grades, but will not necessarily in themselves lead to a reduction in average hours of work.