A couple of days before the changeover and in the midst of a media frenzy about WTD a page appeared on NHS Employers website. It outlines the use of the individual opt-out for doctors - with a sample agreement for anyone to download.
Anyone familiar with Remedy’s campaign on the opt-out might think we would be breaking out the Prosecco after two long years of sidestepping on the issue by the Department of Health. Over 300 million quid has been spent on finding solutions to the 48 hour week in the last year, but the only one that was free, legal and required no resources other some active promotion was repeatedly brushed under the political carpet.
Yet the Prosecco remains under lock and key in the Remedy drinks cabinet. The only way the individual opt-out can work is if the nettle is grasped and implementation is coordinated properly.
The opt-out fails if it is used coercively by trusts or consultants. Without direction and a rigid set of rules ensuring real freedom of choice (a choice we know about two thirds of doctors want) it is also illegal.
A short opt-out session should have been included in every August induction this year outlining and delivering free choice. Instead it appears like a raspberry in the face of common sense, on a website few doctors ever visit, with no guidelines for employers on how to mix a 56 and 48 hour week rota and with a big question mark on what exactly the individual doctors are supposed to do with it.
Remedy is conducting a survey on how many doctors were offered an opt-out at the beginning of August. Please follow the results in the coming weeks.
