RCP president Professor Jane Dacre, commenting on the Secretary of State’s announcement on a seven-day service and the consultant contract, said:
The RCP believes patients deserve the same standard of urgent care at night and weekends as they would receive during normal working hours. Over 65% of consultant physicians already work nights and weekends, with a higher percentage in some specialties. In a recent RCP survey, almost 70% of physicians supported a seven-day service.
Patients requiring hospital care may need diagnostic services such as scans and tests that are not always available out of hours, and this can compromise the effectiveness of the clinical staff who are there at nights and weekends. To make out of hours care more effective and ensure that patient care is not compromised, these services should be available. Similarly, we need a whole system approach to seven-day working across primary care, social care, and community care to provide an integrated service.
To provide high quality services at night and weekends, we will need enough doctors. At present we have rota gaps in many specialties due to shortages of fully trained and experienced doctors.
We must also recognise that not every consultant will be able to work evenings and weekends at every stage of their life due to family responsibilities and other commitments. Hospitals will need to be flexible about rotas across teams and departments.
For further information, please contact Morgan Evans, RCP communications and new media adviser, on +44 (0)20 3075 1468 / 0779 508 8253, or email Morgan.Evans@rcplondon.ac.uk
- 2013–14 UK consultant and higher specialty trainee census
- The RCP’s Work and Wellbeing report highlighted a need for a balanced approach to work life within the NHS