§ 23. Mr. John MarshallTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement on the implementation of the new deal for reducing the hours worked by junior doctors.
§ Dr. MawhinneyI am pleased to say that progress on implementing the new deal on junior doctors' hours has been very encouraging.
Between September 1990 and September 1993 junior doctors' posts contracted for more than 83 hours a week fell from over 13,000 to only 91, a reduction of 99 per cent. That represents a remarkable achievement.
I announced in December that we were giving priority this year to tackling hard-pressed on-call posts contracted for more than 72 hours a week. We are determined that junior doctors see real benefits from the new deal.
§ Mr. AmessTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the extent to which measures to cut the working week of junior doctors have achieved their targets.
§ Dr. MawhinneyWe receive regular reports from regional task forces. Between September 1990 and September 1993 the number of junior doctors and dentists contracted for more than an average 83 hours a week fell from over 13,300 to 91, a reduction of 99 per cent. This is a remarkable achievement.
From August 1992 to September 1993 the number of those working in hard-pressed on-call posts contracted on average for between 73 and 83 hours a week fell from over 10,200 to 7,800, a 24 per cent. reduction. In December 1993 we announced that eliminating the remaining posts in this category will be a priority in 1994.