Shift rules warning for new doctors

Professor Norman Williams, president of the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS), told the Daily Telegraph that trainee surgeons cannot have a “clock in and clock off attitude”.

Shift patterns mean that patients are seeing up to five different teams of doctors in a day and the lack of continuity could put them at risk of mistakes, he said.

Prof Williams said that he tells trainees: “No matter what the European working time directive says, you are professionals, you have a duty to your patients. You cannot have a clock in and clock off attitude.”

European rules on working hours, which limit doctors to working 48 hours a week and stipulate when they must have rest days, have been criticised by the RCS.