PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Hugh F McIntyre
AU  - Sarah Winfield
AU  - Hui Sen Te
AU  - David Crook
TI  - Implementation of the European Working Time Directive in an NHS trust: impact on patient care and junior doctor welfare
AID  - 10.7861/clinmedicine.10-2-134
DP  - 2010 Apr 01
TA  - Clinical Medicine
PG  - 134--137
VI  - 10
IP  - 2
4099  - http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/10/2/134.short
4100  - http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/10/2/134.full
SO  - Clin Med2010 Apr 01; 10
AB  - To comply with the European Working Time Directive (EWTD), from 1 August 2009, junior doctors are required to work no more than 48 hours per week. In accordance with this, East Sussex Hospitals Trust introduced changes to working practice in August 2007. To assess the impact upon patient care and junior doctor welfare a retrospective observational survey comparing data from the year prior to and the year following August 2007 was conducted. No impact on the standard of patient care, as measured by length of stay, death during admission or readmission was found. However, there was a notable increase in episodes of sick leave among junior doctors. Implementation of the EWTD may maintain standards of patient care but may be detrimental to the welfare of doctors in training.