OVERWORKED junior doctors at Barnsley Hospital have been sleeping on mattresses on the floor of their office for the last three years to try and get rest during their long shifts, a shocking report has revealed.
The hospital trust was fined on five occasions over the latest six-month period as staff were working longer than they should have been.
There are seven reasons why the trust may be fined due to overworking, including exceeding a 13-hour shift, not achieving 11 hours rest in a 24-hour period and not being able to take breaks.
From January to June, a total of 164 reports were received by the trust - 124 of which related to staff working over their contracted hours.
A report, which was discussed by the hospital’s board of directors last week, shows that the trust was fined five times over a six-month period.
One fine was due to a breach of natural breaks, whilst four were for breaching the maximum 13-hour shift.
On one occasion, a junior doctor worked more than 54 hours in just four days.
The report states: “Each contractual breach resulting in a departmental fine was escalated to the supervising consulted named on the report, the clinical lead and the service manager as well as to medical staffing to allow calculation of the fine and issuing the department.
“Three breaches of maximal 13-hours shift length occurred in obstetrics and gynaecology in mid-June.
“This has been followed up with the supervising consultant and the doctor involved in order to check what measures were put in place during this time period once the breach had started to occur.
“One doctor worked 54 hours and 45 minutes over four long day shifts, which should only have totalled 50 hours.
“Meetings are pending with the college tutor to look at how things can be improved.”
The trust has been fined more than £2,000 over the last two years.
The report added that some staff have been left to sleep on mattresses on the floor to rest - and bosses admit that they are worried about staff morale.
“The obstetrics and gynaecology team are experiencing significant issues with rest rooms for doctors to use overnight during their shifts,” it said.
“Due to the nature of obstetric emergencies the room needs to be close to the unit.
“There had been a room identified on the ward which was due to be provided with the relevant furniture but was taken away in April due to a last-minute reconfiguration involving the Acorn Unit requiring offices for administration.
“The doctors on shift are now trying to rest on mattresses on the floor of an office.
“This is a long-standing issue running for three years that had thought to have been resolved prior to the reconfiguration in April.
“There is concern around the impact that this issue could have on the morale of current residents as well as the recruitment and retention of locums or substantive roles.”
In a bid to combat the current issues, a total of 17 new staff are set to be employed.
A Barnsley Hospital spokesperson said: “The trust was asked to open a ward at short notice which required the urgent re-location of a number of services, including the rest rooms for resident doctors.
“The rest areas are not intended as overnight accommodation for sleeping, nor are they intended to be a long-term solution for doctors needing to rest during a shift.
“Alternative arrangements are being expedited and are expected to be in place this month.
“We apologise that the temporary solution has not been good enough but we are confident that this will be resolved very soon.”
