Doctors’ working hours ‘detrimental to patient care’

A limit introduced on the hours that doctors work in the UK has resulted in patients being cared for less effectively, it has been claimed.

According to a poll conducted by the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS), two-thirds of doctors operating in the UK believe that a 48-hour limit on working hours imposed by the European parliament is harming levels of patient care.

The European Working Time Directive was implemented in August 2009 and is designed to stop healthcare professionals overstretching themselves.

President of the RSC John Black commented: “We now have a clear message from the frontline that patient care is being made significantly less safe through systems that lead to poor continuity of care.”

This news comes after the 2009 Organ Donation Annual Report showed last week that during the first six months of the 2009-10 financial year, the number of transplant operations taking place in the UK rose by 5.5 per cent.