§ Mr. RedmondTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what research her Department has carried out on the effect on the reduction of junior hospital doctors' hours on accessibility to patient services; and if she will make a statement.
§ Mr. MaloneA number of research projects have been supported, fully or in part, by central funds. The main studies include
Description and preliminary evaluation of Department of Health initiatives to reduce junior doctors' hours—Dr. Irene 590W Higginson, health services research unit, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, 1992;The interface between junior doctors and nurses: a research study for the Department of Health—Greenhalgh and Company, September 1994;Medical support worker policy—Northern general hospital, Sheffield, on-going;The patient's progress —Department of Health, on-goingEvaluation of processes for creating successful roles for nurse practitioners—Sheffield Centre for Heath and Related Research, on-going;Evaluation project on parasurgical assistants—University of Sheffield, Department of Surgical Sciences, on-going.Much of the research in this area has concentrated on how best various disciplines can work together to deliver good quality patient care. The evidence suggests that an effective use of skill mix can help maintain continuity of care, improve services to patients, help reduce junior doctors' hours and provide a range of staff with opportunities to develop their skills further.
As well as projects supported directly by central funds, our regional task forces have been able to develop a range of local schemes to examine how best to reduce juniors' hours. They also evaluate the effect on patient care and juniors' hours of the extra senior medical posts, over 800 in all, which we have funded since 1991.