§ Mr. CorbynTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will state, or estimate, the number of junior hospital doctors in England and Wales and Scotland who are currently contracted to work in excess of 84 hours and 100 hours, respectively, in the course of a working week.
§ Mr. MellorOn 30 September 1987, 12,689 junior hospital doctors in England and Wales were contracted to work or be on call for 89 hours or more in the course of a working week. Included in that figure were 2,528 doctors who were contracted to work or be on call in excess of 100 hours. The information relating to Scotland is a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland. In 1985, an independent survey showed that junior doctors actually worked an average of 57 hours a week.
§ Mr. Terry DavisTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will take steps to ascertain the number of cases in coroners courts where a contributory cause of death has been found to be tiredness or length of duty of hospital doctors in each of the years 1985–88.
§ Mr. MellorJunior doctors' rotas are determined locally. I would expect local health authorities to investigate fully any case where a coroner's court were to find that a contributory cause of death was one of the factors described by the hon. Member.
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§ Mr. SpearingTo ask the Secrertary of State for Health what is the average number of hours in any one week required to be worked by a doctor who is working a one in three rota, as envisaged in his letter of recommendation of June 1988 EL(88)P.82 and the likely range of hours worked in any one week.
§ Mr. MellorA doctor who is working a one in three rota will be contracted to work and to be on call on average for a total of 84 hours in a week. The likely range of hours worked in any one week are dictated by local circumstances. They will depend on a number of circumstances including whether the practitioner is contracted for weekend duty in that week. The likely range would be between 40 and 104 hours. Actual weekly hours worked by junior doctors have, on average, fallen from 58.3 to 57 between 1981 and 1985.
§ Mr. Frank CookTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the maximum number of hours that can be worked by a junior hospital doctor within a seven-day period and the maximum number of hours that may be worked continuously within the terms of his current recommendations.
§ Mr. MellorWe attach great importance to the reduction in hours worked by some junior hospital doctors. Health authorities have been asked to eliminate wherever possible rota commitments worse than one night and one weekend in three. The actual number of hours worked will vary depending upon the speciality and local circumstances.