Department of Health

Website of the Department of Health

Please note that this website has a UK government access keys system.

EWTD pilots

  • Last modified date:
    9 August 2007

Doctors in training should be working a 48-hour week from August 2009. It is important that employers start planning now to meet this challenging legal requirement.  New ways of delivering services can help NHS organisations deliver high quality services, improve efficiency and productivity and meet the challenges of implementing the EWTD. Pilots covering a wide range of potential solutions, a good mixture of urban and rural areas, acute and non acute trusts, and covering specialties including maternity and paediatric managed care networks are already under way.

NWP were commissioned as the lead NHS team to oversee the EWTD 2009 pilots.

Co-operative solutions

EWTD compliance can be a particular challenge for a small or isolated NHS organisation. Four pilot sites are exploring the development of co-operative and network solutions across their health communities.

Team working

New ways of working in teams to provide patient care are seen as an essential part of the work that will be needed to be ready for 2009.  Nine NHS pilot sites are exploring this programme of work.

Taking care 24/7

‘Taking Care 24:7’ pilots look at new ways of working for healthcare services over the full 24 hour day. They aim to improve patient services as well as supporting readiness for WTD 2009.

Managed care networks

The Acute Services Review (1998) in Scotland first introduced the concept of managed clinical networks (MCNs) as a way of refocusing on patients and services rather than organisations and institutions.

It defined MCNs as "linked groups of health professionals and organisations from primary, secondary and tertiary care working in a co-ordinated manner, unconstrained by existing professional and (organisational) boundaries to ensure equitable provision of high quality effective services".

Additional links

Better patient care

Hospital at Night, a model of shift patterns and staffing mix for the NHS to use in response to the European Working Time Directive has delivered improvements to patient care.

Access keys