New fears over the workload of junior doctors

Today is commonly known as ‘black Wednesday’ in the NHS because it has been linked to higher death rates among patients.

The tranche of newly-qualified doctors include Hull University medical graduate Melody Redman who begins work at Scunthorpe General Hospital.

Writing in The Yorkshire Post today, she says: “Working in an emergency department, I will be the first doctor that most patients see. I want to make sure that I represent our NHS well and provide first-class care for every patient.

“On top of the challenging medical conditions I’ll encounter, the strict time constraints combined with diminishing resources will make it difficult to make every person feel valued and to provide my patients with the care they deserve.”

Studies have previously linked the first Wednesday in August, the day when freshly-qualified doctors arrive on hospital wards, to a rise in deaths.

Reports suggest that mortality rates rise by around six per cent as new trainees start work and others change rotations.

A new poll of junior doctors already working in hospitals across the UK found that the majority do not feel as though they have enough time to care for patients.

Of the 1,000 training medics polled by the Medical Protection Society, 70 per cent said they feel as though they do not have enough time to give patients the care they need.

And half said that they had concerns about quality of care in their workplace.

Meanwhile, 82 per cent said they struggled with long hours in the last year and almost two thirds said they had difficulty with heavy workloads. One in 20 junior medics said that they had been forced to have time off work due to stress.

Pallavi Bradshaw, medico-legal adviser at the Medical Protection Society, said: “Junior doctors struggling with long hours is not a new problem.

“What is of concern is that 70 per cent felt that a lack of time compromised the care they gave to patients.”

New doctor’s prescription for meeting her challenges: Page 15.