Press Release
31st July 2003
McNeil Calls for Junior Doctors' Deal
Probe
On the eve of the agreement on junior
doctors’ hours becoming legally enforceable, MSP for
Greenock & Inverclyde and member of the Scottish
Parliament’s Health Committee, Duncan McNeil, is calling for
a parliamentary inquiry into how it and similar measures will
affect the services patients receive.
“Only those who are keen to be
treated by an exhausted medic would argue that the junior
doctor’s deal was anything other than a laudable move,
motivated by the best possible reasons,” he said today.
“But it is said that the road to
hell is paved with good intentions and I think that we do need to
look seriously at how measures such as this will impact on the
wider aspects of patient care and service delivery.
“For example, although only guidance
until now, we have already seen the effects of the junior
doctors’ deal in Argyll and Clyde. A shortage of
junior clinicians has led to a massive pressure to centralise
services and restrict access – the Vale of Leven’s
maternity unit has closed and there is a dark cloud hanging over
our own Rankin Unit. In that one Health Board area alone,
the lack of junior doctors has already led to consultants being
paid over £200,000 just to cover their junior colleagues’
shifts. And, across Scotland, there are allegations that
the system is being misused by some junior doctors to earn more
than consultants and by some Boards to distort the recruitment
process.
“Therefore, the impact of this
agreement being on a statutory basis, coupled with even stricter
measures such as the European Working Time Directive which is set
to be introduced next year, could be disastrous for the NHS
unless proper plans are in place.
“That is why I have written to my
colleagues on the Health Committee arguing that, as this is an
issue which affects every constituency in Scotland, we conduct an
inquiry into the likely impact of these changes and what has to
be done to minimise it.
“This would also give us the
opportunity to look at some of the other pressures which are
leading to NHS centralisation, such as specialisation by
clinicians and how the NHS trains and professionally develops its
staff.”
On Friday, limits on the hours worked and
guaranteed breaks become part of junior doctors' contractual
rights. The limits were initially introduced as guidance
and have applied to first year doctors since 2001. Now,
however, they will now be contractually binding for all junior
doctors.
ENDS
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