Seven day working debate returns, as care backlog grows

The argument over seven day working resurfaced this week, with one consultant arguing that the service needed to make better use of facilities at weekends to tackle the growing NHS waiting list.In 2012 the NHS’s then medical director, Bruce Keogh, set out new seven day working standards for England,1 designed to tackle the worse outcomes among patients admitted to hospital at weekends. The issue became heavily politicised during the industrial dispute between the government and the BMA in 2016 that led to changes to junior doctors’ contracts.2With the latest figures showing that 7.1 million people were waiting for planned NHS hospital care in September 2022,34 up from 4.4 million before the covid pandemic, there have been calls for changes to consultants’ working patterns to try to increase productivity.Andrew Stein, a consultant in renal and general medicine who served on Keogh’s seven day working group, told BBC Radio 4’s Today news…
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