Doctors: Facilities

(asked on 4th December 2018) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to ensure that all doctors have access to a dedicated place to rest (a) during and (b) at the end of their work shift.


Answered by
Stephen Hammond Portrait
Stephen Hammond
This question was answered on 12th December 2018

It is a matter for employers to ensure that rest facilities are provided for all staff during breaks in their work shifts. Staff would normally leave their place of work at the end of their shift.

There are particular provisions in the terms and conditions of doctors in training and consultants covering working at night.

The doctors in training contract states: “Where a doctor is required to work overnight on a resident on-call working pattern, the doctor shall be provided with overnight accommodation for the resident on-call duty period. The consultant contract requires agreement with their employer on those occasions when they would be resident for night duties which, subject to the agreement, may include access to a dedicated place to rest.”

Generally, employers do not require doctors to be resident on call, as all time resident on call is classified as working hours following the Jaeger judgement. It is a matter for employers to consider what rest facilities they wish to provide when a doctor has been called into the hospital and wishes to rest before going home.

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