A SNAPSHOT OF THE EFFECTS OF THE EWTD ON SURGICAL MIDDLE-GRADE TRAINING

White, T J
Barandiaran, J V
Barghouti, N El
Perry, E P

TJ White SpR Locum Appointment for Training in General Surgery
JV Barandiaran SpR Locum Appointment for Training in General Surgery
N El Barghouti Consultant Vascular/General Surgeon
EP Perry Consultant Vascular/General Surgeon Scarborough General Hospital, North Yorkshire

Bulletin of the Royal College of Surgeons of England 87(5):p 168-169, May 2005.

Surgical training in the UK over the last ten years has undergone many changes and, with the recent implementation of the European Working Time Directive (EWTD), some might say that a ‘crisis’ point may have been reached. Surgical training has relied on the concept of an apprenticeship and formal training to lead to appointment as a consultant surgeon ten to twelve years following undergraduate education. In 1993, under the Calman reforms, the length of training was not only restructured but also capped. In the late nineties the government agreed a ‘new deal’ with the BMA, which restricted a junior doctor's working week to 72 hours.