The European Working Time Directive finally comes into play for junior doctors this week and there is a lot of talk in the press about it. The majority of what I’ve seen written is against it, even in the medical press. As a medical student only a year from being a junior doctor the issue concerns me greatly.

Every piece seems to suggest that dropping to a 48 hour week (effectively 9am-7pm Monday-Friday with an hour’s break/day) will harm medical training. Initially you can see why this may be true; after all, if the last generation worked 90 hour weeks, you can’t possibly get the same experience in half the time. However, that argument falls apart pretty darn fast.

The only reason that you’d get less experience is because you’ve cut the number of hours worked in a week but not the length of a training programme. For example, to become Joe Consultant you may need to train for 7 years out of medical school with an average of 60 hours a week, that’s 18,900 hours of work done. Under the new system you’d have done 15,120 hours, so what do you do about the deficit of 3,780 hours of experience? Well since that equates to another year and a quarter’s work, why not make the junior training another couple of years longer. After all, those hours worked in the past were paid at a certain rate, so there should be no harm in paying the same amount over a longer time period. Doctors earlier in training would get less money a year but with that they’d be given a life! Patients would actually end up with more experienced doctors.

I also question whether a doctor was actually benefiting educationally from the 90 hours a week they were working. 90 hours a week translates to 15 hours a day, and it’s absurd to suggest that a person can give their best during every one of those hours. I don’t have any studies to back this up, but I don’t think it’s any great stretch to suggest that you learn more when you’re not absolutely knackered.

I don’t want to be a less competent doctor than those who preceded me. But I really do want to have a life outside work. I don’t want to spend the best years of my life on an artificially lit ward. As a concession for being allowed to live a happy life, I’m happy to accept less money a year (though the same rate of pay) and a slightly longer training programme. I actually think it will make me a better doctor in the end.

For two contrasting opinions of real doctors check out posts by the NHS Blog Doc and GP Informed.