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Meanwhile, there is resentment among hospital doctors who are not being paid for the work they do, staying behind long after they should have gone home.

Even more worrying is how the EWTD has fundamentally altered the way medical care is delivered. There has been a cataclysmic "decoupling" of the junior workforce from the seniors.

Prior to the EWTD, junior doctors were attached to a team typically comprising a newly qualified doctor, a senior house officer, a registrar and a consultant. This "firm", as it was known, was a tried-and-tested way of delivering care. The most junior members learnt from the registrar who, in turn, learnt from the consultant. Roles and responsibilities were clear and there was a sense of belonging, which ensured that juniors would follow their patient from the moment they were admitted or seen in clinic to the point of discharge. There were clear lines of accountability.

But juniors are no longer routinely attached to a particular consultant or team; rather, they "float" between teams, providing cover ad hoc. Both patient and doctor are casualties in this. Junior staff are expected to perform their jobs with no understanding of how their actions impact on wellbeing. There is no appreciation of cause and effect, and no true ownership of the work done.

It is common for patients never to see the same doctor more than once. They often feel confused, isolated and scared at the lack of continuity, having to explain the same problem to every new doctor. Things slip through the net. It is not safe.

Doctors don't want to work like this. We feel like automatons clocking on and off. The EWTD destroys any sense of vocation in our work and removes the opportunity to learn from our seniors, to develop a relationship with them and their patients.

It is only right that junior doctors are freed to provide the care that their patients deserve and that they are paid for the work that they do.

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GOODBYE SUE TOWNSEND, MY INSPIRATION

_{Sue Townsend, pictured in 1992}

Sue Townsend, the author of The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾, died last Thursday at the age of 68, after suffering a stroke.

Her gentle, insightful and witty prose inspired a generation of writers, myself included. I have fond memories of reading her books as a teenager on holiday in Eastbourne, and years later re-read them before writing my first book, a diary of the first year of being a junior doctor.

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DON'T CRITICISE JEREMY HUNT FOR GETTING INVOLVED

Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, was criticised earlier this month for being a "control freak" regarding the NHS. Anonymous senior managers have accused him of keeping too close an eye on the health service.

Why on earth is this seen as a bad thing? I think he should be congratulated. Thank goodness someone is concerned about what is happening to the NHS.

Hunt upset certain hospital chiefs when he telephoned several of them to ask why their hospitals had failed to reach the NHS target for at least 95 per cent of A&E patients to be seen within four hours. I'm pleased that he is tackling the question that many patients want answered.

The NHS Reform Bill, which came into force last year, severed the link between politicians and the NHS, removing the Secretary of State's direct responsibility; it is now supposed to be run by the Department of Health at arm's length. This was an enormous mistake. Since its creation, the NHS had operated on a principle outlined by its creator, Aneurin Bevan, that if a bedpan is dropped in a hospital corridor, the noise should reverberate in Whitehall.

I want someone voted in by the public to be responsible for what happens in the NHS, not an unelected group of faceless, unaccountable bureaucrats.

Max Pemberton's latest book, 'The Doctor Will See You Now' (published by Hodder), is available from Telegraph Books for £8.99 plus £1.10 p&p. To order, call 0844 871 1515 or go to books.telegraph.co.uk