2009

	Interviews Click here for an introduction by the Auditor General (click here for the transcript)
	Report - click here to download the report - Compliance with the European Working Time Directive for junior doctors across NHS Wales
	Click here to view the press release Links Designed to Comply - Working Towards 2009, Welsh Assembly Government, July 2006 Designed to Comply - A Year On, Welsh Assembly Government, July 2007 Hospital at night - Healthcare workforce portal

The NHS in Wales is unlikely to comply fully with the 48 hour a week working time limit for junior doctors when it comes into force on 1 August this year. A report, published today by the Auditor General, says the European Working Time Directive is unlikely to be met without either a substantial investment of effort and money or, in some areas, the extension of the deadline for compliance.

The report says that almost all junior doctors have been working an average of 56 hours a week or less since the end of 2006 (this 56 hour limit came into force from 1 August 2007). And, as at July 2008, all junior doctors in Velindre NHS Trust, Powys Local Health Board and the former Ceredigion and Mid Wales NHS Trust (now part of Hywel Dda NHS Trust) were already working less than 48 hours a week. But many trusts were far from this position and lacked a clear overall plan to comply with the 48 hour limit by August 2009. Across the NHS in Wales as a whole more than half of all junior doctors were still working more than 48 hours a week.

Click here for the full press release