Heavily pregnant obstetrics trainees work 12-hour shifts

PREGNANT obstetrics trainees are working straight 12-hour shifts into the final weeks of their pregnancy while advising their patients to stay home and rest.

This startling finding highlighted in the latest edition of the Irish Medical Times comes a year after the implementation of the European Working Time Directive (EWTD) to provide a healthier workplace for medical staff and to protect patients from tired doctors.

According to the weekly magazine for Irish doctors, more than half of the salaries earned by many non-consultant hospital doctors (NCHDs) comes from overtime work.

On average, NCHDs work 75 hours a week. While doctors have long campaigned the health and safety issues relating to working excessively long hours, a key issue is also the reduction of overtime income if long hours are cut.

And, according to preliminary results from a survey carried out by the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (RCPI), more than half of trainee doctors see the enforcement of the EWTD as a reason to leave Ireland.

The survey asked trainees to predict the impact of shift hours, the probable solution to reducing hours, the quality of patient care, the continuity of patient care, the quality of training and the quality of life on trainees.

Almost 80% said shift work would have a negative impact on the quality of patient care and more than 80% said it would negatively impact on the continuity of patient care.

And 76% feared shift work would decrease the level of consultant-led training they would receive.

The Government wants to introduce shift work where pay is based on the intensity and complexity of work and is willing to separate the directive from contract talks. While the Labour Relations Commission (LRC) showed interest in the Government’s proposal, it was rejected by the Irish Medical Organisation.

Even though shift work would significantly reduce the hours doctors worked, just more than 22% believe it will improve their quality of life and more than 60% believe their quality of life will actually worsen.

Just 8% said an enforced directive would make them more likely to want to be a consultant in Ireland.

The findings indicate that the national implementation group responsible for creating directive compliant rosters in all of Ireland’s hospitals faces serious problems before its work has even started.