The French sign the deal, the British run away and the Italians stand by and watch… The working hours topic involves every Country. In these days, the AP-HP General Direction (Public Assistance – Hospitals of Paris) and the CFDT (General Confederation of Labour) announced the signing of an agreement whose objectives concern the management and working hours: improving patients’ admission procedures and medical staffs’ working conditions, while reducing economic costs. The agreement is going to be in force from January 1, 2016.
Unfortunately, this is not the case of Italy: the debate between the Government and the medical management Trade Unions held last week at Aran (the Representation Agency during negotiations with Public Administration) led to a black smoke and little is known about how the legislation against back-breaking working hours will be applied in the next days.
In Great Britain, thousands of doctors are on the warpath as well, as they are set to quit the NHS in protest at the contractual changes proposed by the Government of the conservative David Cameron’s. Since Jeremy Hunt announced his plans to shake up hospital working hours, more than 5 thousand requests have been made to the General Medical Council to practice medicine outside the country. Among the top requested destinations there are Australia, Canada and Dubai.