A well-deserved reduction in working time. As of May 1, 2015, medical interns will no longer work 60 hours per week but 48 hours. This reduction follows a decree from the Ministry of Health published in the Official Journal.
The new decree specifies that all the obligations of interns “cannot exceed forty-eight hours per period of seven days, this duration being calculated on average over a period of three months”. The new service obligations are broken down into 10 half-days per week compared to 11 currently.
Eight half-days per week on average over the quarter will be devoted to the internship. The other two half-days are devoted to training outside the internship, with a half-day under the responsibility of a coordinator, and another of personal time so that the intern “consolidates and completes his knowledge”.
To record training time, provision is made for the establishment of a “provisional nominative service roster” accompanied by “a recovery system” in the event that the 48-hour limit is exceeded.
Sanctions for offenders
In January, the Minister of Health Marisol Touraine had promised to reduce the working hours of interns in medicine in order to bring France into compliance with European regulations. This stipulates that the maximum working time must not exceed 48 hours per week. This duration includes service obligations but also training time. France had received a call to order from the European Commission in March 2014. The interns had gone on strikein November to demand a review of their working time.
What is the risk of the offending institution? The residents will have a local and regional right of appeal. This could be followed by a withdrawal of approval from the establishment by fraud and could no longer accommodate medical interns.
