Working time regulations need to be protected, BMA warns

The government should not treat Brexit as an opportunity to roll back working time regulations, the BMA and other health organisations have warned.

Theresa May has been told that removing EU-derived legal safeguards that limit week working would risk a return to excessive working hours for health service staff and jeopardise patient safety.

In a letter signed by 13 medical associations and royal colleges, the Prime Minister is warned of the consequences that scrapping the working time regulations after the UK leaves the EU could have for the NHS.

The letter comes amid concerns that some government ministers appear to want to amend existing legislation on working time following Brexit.

Signatories to the letter include the Royal College of Nursing, the Royal College of Physicians, the Royal College of GPs and the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.

The letter says: “As the representatives of doctors, nursing staff and midwives in the UK, we are deeply concerned by reports that there is support within government for the removal of the Working Time Regulations (WTR) from UK law following the UK’s departure from the European Union.

“Dealing with and preventing the effects of excessive working is crucial not only because of the impact on individuals and their families, but also because of the wider consequences it poses to patient safety.

“It is not in the interests of either staff or patients to relax or move away from the safeguarding protections introduced by the WTR, namely the limit of an average 48-hour working week, rest breaks and statutory paid leave, especially when there is, of course, the existing option for all workers to voluntarily opt out of these regulations.

“With health and care services under more pressure than ever before, and staff being called upon to work ever longer hours, what is needed is proper resourcing and investment to increase our workforce, not the removal of safeguards.”

Chaand Nagpaul, BMA council chair, said: “The Working Time Regulations are not only vital for the wellbeing of staff but also because, as medical professionals, the safety of our patients is our number one priority. We can all agree that no one wants a return to the days where doctors and nurses were working 90-hour weeks – it would be bad for patient safety, bad for staff and bad for the NHS.

“With unprecedented staff shortages and pressure currently facing the health service, it is crucial that doctors’, nurses’ and midwives’ concerns over unsafe working conditions are heard.”