EWTD for surgical trainees

The coming weeks and months will doubtless prove to be a difficult time for many surgical trainees as new rotas and working patterns are adopted, set against a backdrop of insufficient staff with which to fill these increasingly thin rotas.

"If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs,

 it's just possible you haven't grasped the situation."

This document below aims to provide a simplified, practical guide specific to surgical trainees, giving an overview of the relevant issues, answering some of the most common queries, and setting out EWTD and New Deal law as it currently stands

What this guide cannot do is give recommendations about what is right for you. A decision to opt out remains your choice. What is important is that you fully understand the risks and benefits of doing so – and equally of not doing so, and continuing to work or train beyond your allotted hours.

In preparing this document we have brought together the latest advice from a range of organisations, including the surgical Royal Colleges, the British Medical Association and NHS Employers. Where their advice is unclear we have sought to clarify this and the outcome of our correspondence forms the basis of this guide. Where ambiguity remains we have highlighted this.

ASiT and BOTA are not trade unions. Whether we should be is a discussion for another day, but in not currently being so we are restricted in the detailed advice we can offer surgical trainees.

If having read this guidance you remain in any doubt about these issues it is important that you seek further guidance. This may mean contacting relevant professional associations such as Remedy UK, the Hospital Consultants & Specialists Association or the BMA. Your indemnity organisation may also be able to offer you more specific advice.

The bottom-line is that you need to be pro-active to protect your own training while at the same time remaining professional and ensuring the safety of your patients.

You also need to be pro-active in making certain you are contractually safe and legally indemnified for the hours you choose to work and train. Make sure you cover yourself and always let your clinical leads and NHS Trust know what is happening.

We hope this guide provides clarity on the key issues surrounding EWTD and enables surgical trainees to remain, as always, one step ahead of the game.

President, British Orthopaedic Trainees Association

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Added on: 10th August 2009