Doctors' Hours (Hansard, 8 February 1990)

§ Mr. Robin Cook
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how long after its completion the Dowie report on doctors' hours was published; and what were the reasons for the time taken.

§ Mrs. Virginia Bottomley
The interim report was sent to the Department in September 1989. We have been studying the report's findings and considering whether publication in advance of the full report, expected later this year, would be appropriate.

§ Mr. Robin Cook
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many hours a week, on average, junior doctors now work.

§ Mrs. Virginia Bottomley
The Dowie report into junior doctors' hours quotes an average of 58 hours of work each week.
Information on junior doctors' hours of work is not available centrally. The latest available information shows that the average weekly number of contracted hours of duty of junior hospital doctors in England and Wales was 82 on 30 September 1988. A survey in 1985 showed that the average weekly number of hours actually worked as against on duty was 57.

§ Mr. Robin Cook
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will place in the Library evidence collected by his Department's working parties into junior doctors' hours.

§ Mrs. Virginia Bottomley
The reports from regional health authorities on the June 1988 initiative to reduce junior doctors' hours, and from those district health authorities which undertook pilot studies into a 72-hour week, are being placed in the Library.

§ Mr. Robin Cook
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if his Department has estimated how many more consultants would be needed for the abolition of one in three shifts and a maximum working week for junior doctors of 72 hours.

§ Mrs. Virginia Bottomley
The achievement of a 72-hour working week for junior doctors will require a variety of solutions which need to be agreed locally. These may include changes in training requirements, in the working practices of both consultants and juniors, and a changed pattern of service delivery. It remains our long-term aim to reduce the average hours of duty to 72 per week.

§ Mr. Robin Cook
To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what new evidence his Department has received about the hours now worked by junior doctors since it first received the Dowie report;
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(2) why evidence from the Dowie report was not submitted to the pay review body.

§ Mrs. Virginia Bottomley
Evidence is submitted in confidence to the doctors' and dentists' review body. The DDRB was informed that we wished first to analyse the reports from health authorities on two initiatives launched after the fieldwork for the Dowie report was completed.
The first, which started in June 1988, asked health authorities to continue to work towards the elimination of rotas more onerous than one in three for practitioners first on call in the hard-pressed specialties.
The second, begun in July 1989, asked a small number of authorities to conduct pilot studies into whether an average 72-hour week was possible within existing manpower constraints. Reports on both initiatives have been received.
We will be keeping the DDRB informed of developments in this area.