Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of a lack of facilities, such as dedicated rest areas and canteens serving hot food, on the morale and wellbeing of NHS staff regularly working evening or overnight shifts.

Employers are responsible for ensuring they only charge anaesthetists and other doctors for using rest facilities in hospitals in accordance with relevant terms and conditions of service.

The doctors in training contract states: “Where a doctor is rostered to work on a non-resident on-call working pattern and the doctor elects voluntarily, subject to the availability of accommodation, to be resident during the on-call duty period, a charge for any such accommodation shall be made and, provided that prior consent has been given, deducted from the doctor’s salary. 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 without charge”.

The consultant contract requires agreement with their employer on those occasions when they would be resident for night duties so they should not be charged where such agreement has been reached. 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.

Employers are also responsible for the morale and wellbeing of their staff so it is vital they deliver on their responsibility for the provision of dedicated rest areas and either hot food and/or facilities for preparing hot food for staff rostered to work night shifts as enshrined in staff terms and conditions of service and the NHS Constitution.