LETTER: First class care seven days a week

Doctors care for patients and understand their needs, and have been clear in their support for more seven-day hospital services despite the recent comments made by the health secretary.
By The Newsroom
Published 5th Aug 2015, 17:00 BST

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The BMA has repeatedly called on the government to outline their plans for seven-day services including how they will fund and staff them. Yet we are still no closer to finding out how the government plans to fund more weekend care or how they will ensure there isn’t a reduction in mid-week services.

Doctors work as part of a team and simply adding an extra doctor to a ward will make no real difference to patients across Sussex if the support needed is not there. The government makes no mention of the extra nurses, diagnostic staff, porters, admin staff – the list goes on – that would be needed to deliver more seven-day services.

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Like thousands of other workers, NHS staff are already providing a first-class service, every day of the week.

This is why doctors, nurses and everybody else working across the NHS have been voicing their anger through the #ImInWorkJeremy social media campaign. It is simply wrong for the health secretary to suggest that they are only working Monday to Friday.

Doctors have been clear that they would be willing to work with the health secretary to better improve weekend services. So if he wants to put patient care first and foremost he should work with those who spend each day doing just that.

Patients deserve no less.

Dr MARK PORTER

Chair of Council, British Medical Association, BMA House, Tavistock Square, London WC1H 9JP

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