Doctors ‘are caring for up to 400 patients a night’

The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) has expressed concern that doctors are being forced to compromise on patient care because they are responsible for up to 400 patients at night.

In research to be published in Clinical Medicine later this year, the RCP identified large variations in the provision of medical cover at night in hospitals.

The study looked at how clinical teams in hospitals in England and Wales were made up and the number of patients for which each team was responsible.

It found that, at night, doctors were responsible for an average of 61 patients, but the range was from one to 400.

The RCP said the seniority of the doctor in charge of a ward also varied considerably, with 63 teams reporting that the most senior medical cover on the night of the survey was a junior doctor in their first two years of training.

Dr Andrew Goddard, director of RCP’s medical workforce unit, suggested that new rotas put in place under the European Working Time Directive could be contributing to this problem.

He said: “Far from benefiting their welfare, the poor implementation of the directive means that juniors are missing out on crucial support and valuable training opportunities and patient care is being spread too thinly.”