HL Deb 11 October 1999 vol 605 cc27-8WA
Lord McColl of Dulwich

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Why, if the number of junior doctors breaching the nationally agreed limits on hours worked is now rising, they are delaying implementing the Working Time Directive for juniors by agreeing to no upper limit on weekly working hours for the first four years and a sixty hour limit for the following three years. [HL4013]

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

Her Majesty's Government attach great importance to continuing to make progress in reducing junior doctors' hours. We certainly have no intention of lifting the 56-hour limit which is a central part of the current United Kingdom New Deal agreement. We have reaffirmed our commitment to the New Deal task forces and we issued, in England last December and in Scotland in April, new guidance on the quality of rest for juniors, especially when working out of hours. There remains, however, a significant number of posts outside full compliance and our first step must be to tackle these posts.

Over time, the European Community Working Time Directive will require the implementation of a 48-hour week. We need to do so over a reasonable period and in such a way that does not jeopardise patient care, the training needs of juniors or our plans to modernise the National Health Service into the next century. The current situation where too many doctors are working over 56 hours means, for example, that we could not move immediately to the legal enforcement of the current 56-hour limit.

At a European level it has been necessary to agree, with other countries, an approach which we and our European partners feel is fair and deliverable. It was necessary to take into account the differing needs of all our European partners in setting realistic minimum standards for the outset, standards which will apply and can be enforced in all member states.

The period and staging proposed by the German Presidency and agreed unanimously by the Social Affairs Council on 25 May 1999 achieves such a framework. The proposed Europe-wide ceiling is not about the average number of hours junior doctors must work but the maximum average above which they cannot be made to work.

This proposal means that in the UK we can continue to make progress at a realistic rate. We believe that we will continue to see progress made on reducing junior doctors' hours and that the route to 48 hours will be marked with clear goals which will mean that junior doctors will see benefits from our actions well before the final implementation date.