More than four in 10 junior doctors have fallen asleep at the wheel after driving home from a night shift, research shows.
A poll of more than 1,100 junior doctors for the BBC Inside Out South programme found 41 per cent had nodded off on their way home.
The programme also details how Brian Connelly’s daughter, Lauren, was driving home after her first ever night shift as a newly-qualified doctor when she died.
Following his daughter’s death, Mr Connelly campaigned for smarter hours for junior doctors. As a result the government has cut the number of night shifts that can be worked in a row in Scotland from seven to five.
One junior doctor from Oxford, Sam Jayaweera, who often works four night shifts in intensive care in a row of 13 hours each, told the programme: “About five minutes away from home I was on one of the country roads and found myself on the opposite side of the road – I mean thank goodness there was nothing coming the other way.
“In fact, only just last year I was going to a night shift and I came across a car that (had) flipped in the road, it was an unlit country road and… it was another junior doctor coming back from their late shift.”
In another case, Dr Ronak Patel, 33, a junior doctor from Gosport was heading home to his pregnant wife. He was driving home after doing three night shifts when his car collided with a lorry. He died in a head-on collision and, according to evidence heard at an inquest in Bury St Edmunds, had probably fallen asleep.
Dr Michael Farquhar, who teaches junior doctors about rest, said: “The teaching that we do is all about making sure we encourage our junior doctors, our nursing colleagues, everybody who’s working at night that it is not a sign of weakness at all to take rests and breaks when we’re working.”
Dr Jeeves Wijesuriya, co-chairman of the British Medical Journal’s junior doctors committee, said: “Sleep deprivation impairs judgment and decision-making skills. Not only is it dangerous for patients but, as these figures show, it can put the safety of doctors at risk.
“With rising workloads, rota gaps covered by asking doctors to work double shifts, and moves to deliver more services out of hours, action is needed. The Government must make safe working a priority and tackle the rise in staff shortages and rota gaps.”