RCS response to the launch of the Sir John Temple Review of training under EWTR

John Black, President of the Royal College of Surgeons, said:

“We are relieved that this report openly acknowledges that the European Working Time Regulations [EWTR] have critically damaged medical training in the UK. However, we are deeply disappointed that the remedies proposed are unworkable. It is unrealistic to put training concerns above those of patients and there are not the bottomless resources available to fund these proposals. The one obvious solution for the acute specialties – that of removing the EWTR itself – is not assessed at all.”