EU Working Time Directive (NHS)

Debate between Charlotte Leslie and Andrew Bridgen

Thursday 26th April 2012 Westminster Hall

[Charlotte Leslie]

I know that my hon. Friend has done a tremendous amount of work in this area. The ways in which other countries get round the directive will be the conclusion to my speech. The Minister has a choice whether to prioritise political process in Europe or patients. Will we put everything into finding a way to give patients the care, and the professions the flexibility and respect, that they deserve? I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Daventry (Chris Heaton-Harris) for anticipating that point.

[Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this important debate. We will all be aware that it has recently been reported in the media that the mortality rates for someone unfortunate enough to be taken into hospital on a Friday night, Saturday or Sunday are about 20% worse. Does my hon. Friend think that the working time directive is exacerbating the situation and preventing us from dealing with the problem of continuity of care?

[Charlotte Leslie]

I suspect that that is a problem in hospitals in colleagues’ constituencies, and I look forward to hearing about those. It is not just politicians in the Houses of Parliament who say these things, but, crucially, clinicians on the ground, whose prime concern is looking after patients. I certainly agree with my hon. Friend’s point.

One area in which the restrictions of the working time directive become apparent is in the case of a flu pandemic. The guide to the implications of the European working time directive for doctors in training makes it clear that even in a flu pandemic there are no exemptions from, and there is no flexibility about, the 48-hour rule. It is true that individuals can opt out of the directive, but they are still limited by the previous Government’s new deal to working 56 hours a week. However, there is no mechanism to compel doctors to opt out of the 48-hour working time directive.

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[Charlotte Leslie]

I thank my hon. Friend. He has done a tremendous amount of work in this area, and I bow to his expertise. I see the solution as twofold and two-speed. First, we must ask why we are in this situation, and we must look at the treaties. Open Europe has suggested an interesting double-lock mechanism for negotiating our way out of what was the social chapter and creating a situation in which we are not bound by the rulings of the European Court of Justice. Those are big, radical steps and will take time, but it is something that we should look at.

This issue is of great importance on a daily basis. Each year that passes, a new generation of doctors enters a system that is systematically undermining the most important element of our NHS. Because issues to do with Europe are so tangled, difficult and frustrating, we need to look at more practical and instantaneous ways of getting around the directive with which we are inflicted. I take my hon. Friend’s point, but a two-speed approach is vital because of the issue’s importance.

[Andrew Bridgen]

My hon. Friend said something about medical professionals going to work on days when, under the working time directive, they are legally supposed to be at home or on holiday. Is she as concerned as I am that that could raise serious problems and create confusion and grey areas about professional negligence for medical professionals who are supposed to be on holiday but are actually working in the hospital? Will the Minister explain where they would stand on that matter for insurance purposes?

[Charlotte Leslie]

My hon. Friend raises a good point that will be of great interest as things progress. In a culture in which litigation against the NHS is becoming more and more common, what will happen if patients feel that their safety has been compromised because of the lack of training received by their doctors? The European directive raises all sorts of issues about patients’ rightful expectations of those who treat them.