With Spanish doctors threatening indefinite strike, health secretary urges patience

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Seven Spanish doctors’ unions have rejected a proposed update to the national framework for healthcare workers’ hours and are threatening an indefinite strike. The reform would shorten on-call shifts, cap weekly hours, and prohibit regular shifts immediately after on-call duty; Health Secretary Javier Padilla Bernáldez has urged patience as the bill advances through Congress.

Spain’s framework governing maximum working hours for healthcare professionals, called Estatuto Marco, hasn’t changed since 2003. However, the government is now trying to update the framework, reducing on-call shifts from 24 hours to 17, capping weekly hours at 45, and banning standard shifts directly after on-call shifts.1The reform bill was sent to Congress at the start of September and is now working its way through the parliamentary system.Although most unions, including the nurses’ union, now support the updated framework, after months of negotiations, seven unions representing doctors have rejected it. They are arguing for a separate framework specifically for doctors that reflects the “unique aspects arising from their training and responsibility.”2Spanish health secretary Javier Padilla Bernáldez says that, if passed into law, these working hour reforms “would be the biggest advance in labour rights for healthcare professionals in the last two decades.”After strike action earlier this year in protest at...