Overtime pressures on junior doctors revealed

A new study has found that junior doctors are under pressure to work long hours of overtime for no extra pay.

Research from the British Medical Association (BMA) revealed that 29% of junior doctors are working with staff rotas that have at least one vacancy.

In some cases, staff rotas had as many as four or five vacancies, the BMA discovered.

According to Ram Moorthy, chairman of the BMA's Junior Doctors Committee, it is 'fundamentally wrong' to put pressure on junior doctors to work overtime.

'This was a problem that employers and the government could and should have foreseen and it's unfair that doctors are having to prop up rotas without being paid for it,' he commented.

He added that 'the quality of patient care' is at risk.

Meanwhile, all NHS training posts will only be available to UK medical students from 2009, the Government announced recently.