EU supports delay in reducing doctors' hours

The European Union's Council of Ministers has agreed to delay until 2012 the full implementation of the European 48 hour working time directive to the hours worked by junior hospital doctors.

The European Commission had proposed that junior doctors' hours should be reduced to a maximum of 54 hours a week for seven years followed by implementation of the directive. The new agreement, which was leaked last month (15 May, p 1307), means that the hours will remain the same for …