A PLEDGE to cut junior doctor hours in Scotland in the wake of the death of a young medic killed in a car crash on her way home from work has been scrapped, it has emerged.
Health Secretary Shona Robison disclosed that an ambition to limit junior doctors' hours to 48 hours per week, without averaging, was now considered "unachievable".
Ms Robison made the admission in a letter to Brian Connelly, whose daughter Lauren Connelly died in 2011 as she drove home after a 12-hour shift at Inverclyde Royal Hospital. It is thought the 23-year-old may have lost control of her car after falling asleep at the wheel. The tragedy led Mr Connelly to campaign for a change in junior doctors' hours after revealing the onerous shift patterns his daughter had faced in the seven weeks running up to her death, including ten and 12-day stretches without a day off.
In her letter to Mr Connelly, Ms Robison said the British Medical Association felt that a 48-hour limit was "unachievable given the need to maintain a good standard of training for doctors and a safe service for patients and it is not a priority for their members".
Chris Sheridan, chairman of the BMA's Scottish junior doctors' committee (SJDC), said there was a safety issues about people working excessive hours but that there were also issues around staff shortages.
He said: "So many rotas have vacant slots and we do not have doctors in training posts to man all the rotas adequately at the moment."
Mr Connelly said Ms Robison was "wriggling out of her commitments".
He added: "My understanding is that the SJDC considers a 48-hour week would be difficult to achieve in current circumstances, that is not the same as suggesting they do not support it."
A previous survey by Doctors.net.uk suggested that two out of five doctors in the UK had fallen asleep at the wheel.
Mr Connelly said he did not expect doctors to clock out if they are in the middle of handling serious cases, but stressed that his daughter regularly worked one or two hours every day and often did not have time for lunch in the time she had worked at the IRH.
Labour health spokesperson Anas Sarwar said: “This is nothing short of a betrayal of junior doctors. The SNP cannot keep the promises it made to our doctors because a decade of Nationalist government has created a staffing crisis in our hospitals.
“Our hospitals do not have enough doctors because of a long term failure of the SNP to workforce plan effectively. Junior doctors working unacceptably long hours is a huge risk to themselves and patients.
“That is why Labour is setting up a workforce commission to look at the serious gaps in our NHS workforce.
"This was a promise the government made in the aftermath of a tragedy - trying to quietly wriggle out of that promise is completely unacceptable.
“SNP Health Secretary Shona Robison must explain these measures to parliament as a matter of urgency.”
A spokesman for the Scottish Government said: "All junior doctor rotas in Scotland are monitored on a regular basis and comply fully with the Working Time Regulations, which includes an average working week of 48 hours or less.
"We continue to support NHS boards in ensuring rotas are well designed, and we recently lowered the maximum consecutive night shifts on a rota from seven to five.
"We continue to work with the BMA and other interested parties to explore all options to ensure junior doctors receive ongoing support and how we can make concrete improvements to junior doctors working lives."
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