Nine in ten emergency doctors 'working overtime' It recommended that the British Medical Association and NHS Employers conduct an urgent review to consider how consultants' working practices can be changed, particularly with regard to out-of-hours and weekend care, in order to improve safety and ensure doctors have enough time off. A forthcoming review of A&E services by Sir Bruce Keogh must prompt efforts to improve the emergency care system, the report added. Dr Taj Hassan, vice president of the College and one of the report's authors, added: "Senior medical decision makers in emergency medicine provide one of the most vital strands in maintaining safety for emergency care systems in the UK. A failure to address these issues will compromise this ability and also further worsen the present workforce crisis affecting emergency departments. Figures published last week showed that the number of A&E departments which are failing to meet the official target of seeing 95 per cent of patients within four hours has almost trebled in a year. Between July and September 39 departments missed the target, compared with 14 during the same three-month period in 2012, NHS England reported. Dr Andrew Goddard, of the Royal College of Physicians, said that increasing the appeal of working in emergency medicine is one of the principle challenges the NHS must face. "This survey reflects what most consultant physicians observe in their hospital's A&E departments with an unmanageable workload and difficult working conditions that make emergency medicine unattractive to trainees," he said. A Department of Health spokesman said: "We know we need to do more to support emergency departments to do their important work through winter and beyond. We have asked Professor Sir Bruce Keogh to carry out a review to look at the demands on services and how the NHS should respond. Sir Bruce is due to report and share his recommendations very shortly. Dr Paul Flynn, chairman of the British Medical Association's consultants committee, added: "We urgently need to look at how we can make working practices in emergency medicine safe and sustainable to address this recruitment and retention crisis."