David Cameron has pledged England will have “become the first country in the world to deliver a truly seven-day NHS” by 2020. This repeats a promise in the Conservative party’s election manifesto and furthers the prime minister’s plans for seven-day access to GPs.
A number of key figures, including Norman Lamb, a Liberal Democrat health minister until the election, health unions, and the NHS England chief executive, Simon Stevens, have said that such an ambition may not be realistic, given the NHS’s chronic financial and staffing problems.
Below is a selection of tweets from healthcare professionals outlining their views on whether a seven-day health service is possible.
If you’d like to add your opinion, please take our poll and/or tweet us @GdnHealthcare.
@GdnHealthcare @guardian 8am-8pm GP pilots failed. Question is not just can we but should we? More clinical bang per buck elsewhere.
— Elizabeth Bates (@batesej) May 18, 2015
@Whitehouse_Hlth @normanlamb @GdnHealthcare The aim is laudable, though. Unacceptable that care is lower at weekends. #7dayNHS
— RoslynByfieldTherapy (@RoslynByfield) May 18, 2015
@Li33ieBee @GdnHealthcare @guardian 24/7 GP service already exists. It always has. NHS can't do everything anywhere anytime for everyone!
— Gaurav Gupta (@drguptagaurav) May 18, 2015
@GdnHealthcare @guardian A slight paradox to be encouraging more GPs into training yet stretching under resourced primary care more thinly
— Nishma Manek (@nishmanek) May 18, 2015
@GdnHealthcare:The NHS has a moral duty to provide a 7 day service & the Govt has a duty to provide adequate funding. It's not cost neutral.
— Rosaline Wong (@msrosalinewong) May 18, 2015
@RoslynByfield @GdnHealthcare @Whitehouse_Hlth @normanlamb Poor care unacceptable at any hour but are #Tory proposals the solution?
— corn flake (@cornflake57) May 18, 2015
@GdnHealthcare: Appointing more consultants won't do. We 'll need imaging, theatre, labs etc operating at full level at weekends as well.
— Rosaline Wong (@msrosalinewong) May 18, 2015
@GdnHealthcare @RoryHegarty absolutely the NHS can handle it, but policymakers need to use all of primarycare incl #PharmacyFirst to achieve
— Darshan Negandhi (@darshannegandhi) May 18, 2015
@GdnHealthcare @RoryHegarty #7dayNHS we need better access to support services at weekends, #7daysocialwork ?
— helen mackie (@damson29) May 18, 2015
@sajajohnson @GdnHealthcare Already have 7 day NHS (hospitals + GP OOH) - what is proposed and totally unachievable is routine service 7/7
— Dr John G Hughes (@johnghughes3) May 18, 2015
@GdnHealthcare 7-day NHS acute care is a good idea and already in place! 7-day non-urgent care is unachievable and an idealist's pipe dream.
— Mustafa Rashid (@mustafa_rashid) May 18, 2015
@GdnHealthcare 7day week #NHS problem is it takes >5yrs to train a GP, huge manpower planning blunders.
— Mike ward (@ebmmike) May 18, 2015
@GdnHealthcare Recruitment is the major issue for 7 days health service. Doctors, nurses, radiographers, pharmacists, physios. It won't work
— Jamie A'Court (@jamieacourt) May 18, 2015
@GdnHealthcare #7dayNHS possible but needs adequate resourcing & not erosion of working conditions
— Nick Woznitza (@xray_nick) May 18, 2015
@ebmmike @GdnHealthcare need to commission more uni places to meet demand of a) demographics of doctors and b) increased number of positions
— Gill Chapman (@gc_gill) May 18, 2015
