Almost half of consultant anaesthetists have had a car accident or near miss on their commute home because of fatigue

A survey of consultants in anaesthesia and paediatric intensive care working in the UK and Ireland found that most had experienced work related fatigue.

The survey, published in Anaesthesia,1 received 3847 responses from consultants working in the UK and the Republic of Ireland (a 46% response rate).

Of those, 3792 (98.5%) worked in the UK and 56 (1.5%) in Ireland. Most (91%) said that they had experienced work related fatigue and 72% said that this had a moderate or significant negative impact on their social and family life.

The survey found that while 79% of consultants …