HC Deb 29 April 1993 vol 223 cc534-5W
Mrs. Fyfe

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many actual hours are currently worked by junior doctors in each hospital.

Mr. Stewart

Information on actual hours worked by junior doctors is not held centrally. Junior doctors contract for a standard working week of 40 hours and such further agreed additional duty hours to be spent on-call or on shift work as are required to meet the needs of the service. As at 30 September 1992—the latest available figures—the average number of contracted hours for junior doctors was 79 per week. Provisional half-yearly returns from health authorities indicate that as at 31 March 1993 only 130 junior doctors, 3.9 per cent., were contracted for more than 83 hours of duty per week.