Dear Fellow/Member,

The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh is polling its surgical Fellows and Members to assess the impact, 6 months on, of the implementation in August 2009 of the 48-hour week under the Working Time Regulations (WTR). This survey is designed to complement and augment other surveys on the issue of WTR, which have produced results of concern to The College in specific areas.

We are particularly interested in your views on the impact (positive or negative) on patient safety, service delivery and quality of training, and would appreciate you taking the time to reply in order to help us to determine how we can best assist all of our Fellows and Members to respond to the new regulations . It will only take a few minutes to complete, and please be assured that you will retain anonymity. Please complete the survey here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WTDsurveyRCSEd.

Additionally, you will be aware that Sir John Temple has been asked by Medical Education England (MEE) to conduct a review of the impact of the Working Time Regulation on training.

I have presented evidence to Sir John on behalf of the College and you may download and read the summary of this evidence along with the views of the College's trainee group.

With best wishes

Yours faithfully

David Tolley PRCSEd