JUNIOR hospital doctors, some working an average of 75 hours a week, should be included in the new legislation covering working time, the Irish Medical Organisation has said in a submission to the Select Committee on Enterprise and Economic Strategy.
The IMO has requested that the Organisation of Working Time Bill 1996 include the non consultant hospital doctors (NCHDs) who frequently work in excess of the 65 hours a week recommended by the Labour Court.
The IMO warns that such practices are dangerous to the physical health of the doctors and have "the potential to retard both the development of a quality health care system and give rise to malpractice claims by patients".
In Ireland these doctors in training make up a substantial percentage of the medical labour force, 40 per cent of all doctors. Some, according to the submission, have been in training for 12 or more years while working in excess of a maximum 65 hours per, week, often without payment ford these additional hours.
The relevant EU Council Directive exempts junior doctors from its provisions on a maximum work week. "When the directive was under political discussion, Ireland and the UK conspired together for the exclusion of doctors in training," states the submission.
The IMO feels that the Irish Government's application of the directive under the Organisation of Working Time 1996 Bill does not fully consider work practice agreements concerning the maximum working hours of NCHDs in Ireland.
"It is unreasonable and unrealistic to demand NCHDs to give 100 per cent quality performance while working exhaustive hours under pressurised conditions. It also sets a very dangerous precedent to exclude them from the health and safety initiatives, given that such exclusion affects the health and safety of such doctors and their patients while making it very difficult to deliver a safe, effective and quality health care system."
The submission says an NCHD's working week consists of a basic 39 hours, which is remunerated at a flat rate, and at different rates for additional overtime hours up to an agreed and approved maximum of 26 hours. "However, as the total number of weekly hours worked by NCHDs increases in excess of maximum limits, the concept of a maximum work week of 65 hours tends to lose its meaning."
Following lobbying by the Permanent Work Group of European Junior Hospital Doctors, it was recommended that the clause excluding junior doctors should be deleted. The European Parliament voted by an overwhelming majority to delete the clause. However, the clause was adopted intact by the Council of Ministers.
The IMO believes that EU countries have the right to extends" the provisions of the directive if they wish. Legislation to limit working hours for doctors have been introduced in the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, and Germany. Special provisions could be introduced here in the Working Time Bill to cover junior doctors, it said.