What you need to know about the seven day NHS

Abstract

Over the past two decades there has been a rise in the opening hours of many industries, such as supermarkets, transport, and retail, where you can access a broad range of services 24 hours a day. Despite this, many parts of NHS care are reduced at weekends, with primary care commonly unavailable and hospital staffing often run at lower levels. However, this may be about to change. In his first major speech after being re-elected in May 2015, David Cameron reiterated the government’s drive towards providing a comprehensive seven day NHS service, which was initially set out in the Conservative Party’s 2010 manifesto. His speech included plans to open general practitioner surgeries from 8 am to 8 pm every day, alongside better provision in seven day hospital care. Although extending the opening hours of the NHS will be a popular policy for the public, how will it work in practice and what will be the effect on the staff being asked to deliver it? The move towards a more comprehensive seven day NHS has been driven by a combination of political and patient safety factors. Increasing evidence suggests that care is less effective at weekends. Often quoted figures in a study published by the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine reported that patient death rates from weekend admissions compared with Wednesdays were 16% higher on Sundays and 11% higher on Saturdays.1 Evidence from Dr Foster Intelligence also links higher death rates at weekends to fewer senior doctors being present on the wards.2 These figures have raised serious questions about weekend care, even though the reasons behind the numbers have been contested. The evidence prompted NHS England, the national independent body set up to help improve patient outcomes, to initiate a Seven Days a Week forum in 2013. …