THE father of a junior doctor killed driving home from a hospital night shift has been promised in writing that the working hours of young medics in Scotland will be cut.

Brian Connelly, whose daughter Lauren died on the road seven weeks into her medical career, has released a letter from Health Secretary Shona Robison vowing action to restrict junior doctors' working hours to 48 a week, every single week.

He described her words as a "breakthrough" and explained: "I do not want any family to suffer what we have suffered. I do not want what happened to Lauren and to our family to happen to anyone else."

As soon as Dr Connelly started her job at Inverclyde Royal in the summer of 2011, her father said she was rostered to work more than 90 hours over 10 days. This, he said, was rapidly followed by another stretch of 12 days when she spent more than 107 hours at work.

Four years since her death at the age of 23, an investigation found nine out of 11 mainland health boards are still asking doctors to work 12 day stretches racking up to 114 hours before they get a day off.

They can do this despite the European Working Time Directive (EWTD) limiting the working week to 48 hours because health boards can comply with the law by averaging the time staff spend on shift over six months.

Mr Connelly argues that while this may meet the letter of the law it ignores its spirit - to protect junior doctors from exhaustion and patients from tired doctors.

He said: "Why should the hours and working conditions of junior doctors be so much worse than the patients they are treating? What makes junior doctors unique among working people in being immune from the effects of fatigue which excessive working hours bring?

"It is a basic health and safety matter - their safety and patient safety."

Mr Connelly met Alex Salmond, when he was First Minister, and Alex Neil when he was Health Secretary, and then this September he met current Health Secretary Shona Robison in a bid to improve working hours for young medics.

Following the discussion with Ms Robison he has received a letter from her which promises a plan to deliver an "actual working week of 48 hours with no averaging of hours as is currently permitted".

In the letter, dated September 30, Ms Robison says: "I believe that we can commit to this as a longer term aim but, as I said, I wish to be in a position to be able to make this commitment with a firm and achievable timescale."

She goes on to say the Scottish Government is collecting information to allow them to assess the realistic timescale for achieving the target and says she has asked Shirley Rogers, director of health workforce, to ensure the commitment is part of the 2020+ workforce plan for NHS Scotland.

Mr Connelly, from East Kilbride, said: "I absolutely welcome this and I am looking forward to its implementation as soon as practically possible."

The president of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, Ian Ritchie, and opposition politicians are among others who have also called for action on junior doctors' hours.

Dr Chris Sheridan, chairman of BMA Scotland’s junior doctors committee, said: “If it is indeed the case that the Scottish Government intends to put more rigorous limits on the length of time that junior doctors can be asked to work during a week, then it shows a commendable desire to improve working practices and patient safety.

“Making sure that there are proper safeguards on how long doctors work is not just about the wellbeing of doctors, it is also a vital component of patient safety and ensuring that someone is not being treated by an exhausted doctor.

“We look forward to hearing the Scottish Government’s intentions in more detail and to working with them on how this would work in practice.”

Jim Hume, Scottish Liberal Democrat spokesman, said: “Setting targets without ensuring that health boards have the resources they need to meet them does no one any good whatsoever. SNP ministers must ensure that support is available to help reduce the strain on junior doctors.”

Health Secretary Shona Robison said: “I was pleased to meet Mr Connolly recently and discuss how a working week of 48 hours with no averaging of hours could be taken forward.

“Following our meeting I wrote to Mr Connolly to set out that I believe we can deliver this in the future, and that we would be determining a firm and achievable timescale to deliver this.

"This will inform our future workforce planning as part of our ongoing national conversation on the future of health and care in Scotland."