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Junior doctors 'pressured to work unpaid overtime'
31/03/2008
Junior doctors may be being pressured into working long hours without pay due to staff shortages, new research has suggested.According to the British Medical Association (BMA), 29 per cent of junior doctors are working to a staff rota with at least one vacancy.
In fact, some of the doctors who reported vacancies said as many as four or five new medical professionals are required.
Chairman of the BMA's Junior Doctors Committee Mr Ram Moorthy noted that it is "fundamentally wrong" to bully doctors into working more hours.
"This was a problem that employers and the government could and should have foreseen, and it's unfair that doctors are having to prop up rotas without being paid for it," he said.
Mr Moorthy stated that it the problem continues, "the quality of patient care" will suffer.
The government recently stated that NHS training posts will only be available to UK medical students from 2009 onwards.
