JUNIOR DOCTORS' HOURS AND MR DERYCK SENIOR

EDM number 444 in 1991-92, proposed by Dave Nellist on 19/12/1991.

That this House recognises the sterling campaign of Mr Deryck Senior, father of the late Dr Robin Q. Senior MD, to seek protective statutory legislation limiting the duty hours and periods of work required of junior hospital doctors, particularly during their first vulnerable year; notes that legislation exists controlling conditions of work and rest for lorry drivers and airline pilots, but not doctors; supports the immediate introduction, with full consultation with the representative organisations involved, of (a) maximum duty hours in any one day of 12, with a minimum of 12 hours off before and after each shift, (b) only five days duty maximum in any one week, (c) minimum and flexible refreshment periods of a least two hours 24 minutes per 12 hour shift, (d) minimum vacation of one week per quarter and (e) during the first month of appointment a limit on the daily hours to eight, between 9 am and 5 pm, Monday to Friday, and with any induction programme being held on the first day of appointment; and looks forward to the expansion of training and recruitment of doctors and the establishment, for all health workers, of a 35 hour week.

This motion has been signed by a total of 27 MPs.