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Overworked Surgeons Could Lead to a Rise in Medical Negligence Claims

January 31, 2011

Posted by:Suzanne Trask

The Guardian reports that a Royal College of Surgeons survey finds 48-hour European working time limit is regularly broken.

Seven out of ten surgeons say they are expected to undertake elective operations when they are supposed to be on call for emergencies.

Almost three-quarters work significantly longer than the 48-hour European working time limit, according to a survey by the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) and about 90% of the consultant surgeons surveyed said they were on call at weekends and evenings to provide 24-hour care.

The RCS warns that forcing on-call surgeons into operating theatres to perform elective surgery is a "significant barrier to improving emergency surgery in the UK".

John Black, president of the RCS, said: "It is a matter of concern that so many surgeons are being expected to undertake elective operations while on call. Other studies have shown this leads to delays in them getting to emergencies as they cannot be in two places at once."

The survey highlighted the gender gap in modern-day surgery – considered one of the most prestigious branches the medical profession. Despite 55% of medical graduates being women, only 7% of surgical consultants are female. This picture varies across the specialities, with oral and maxillofacial (3.8%) and orthopaedics (4.6%) reporting the lowest proportion of females. The specialities with the highest proportion of female surgeons are plastic surgery (13.1%) and paediatric surgery (20%).

The RCS says the gender gap is a legacy of the past. "Although there appear to be very few female consultant surgeons, this reflects the fact that very few women went to medical school at the time the present generation of consultants entered speciality training. We expect to see far more female surgeons in the future," said Black.

There was also some concern that although a third of consultants said they wished to work part-time at some point in their career, less than 10% actually do so.