Should NHS consultants work weekends? Share your experiences
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Version 0 of 1. Health secretary Jeremy Hunt has given NHS consultants an ultimatum: agree to work weekends within six weeks, or a seven-day contract and cuts to overtime pay will be imposed from April 2017. Hunt attacked “extortionate” overtime payments, and implied that consultant inflexibility is causing unnecessary deaths. Are you a medical consultant, or work in A&E? Or perhaps you’ve experienced consultant care first-hand? Share your experiences using the form below. We’ll use a selection for a feature. “More than 30% of our work time is already delivered outside of normal working hours,” an A&E consultant and Guardian commenter Grady1 wrote in response to Jeremy Hunt’s calls. “Don’t let Jeremy push through unsustainable changes, which will simply lead to a mass exodus, and the further unraveling of the NHS,” they added. Former patients also shared their personal experiences of accessing weekend consultant care. “Three years ago I suffered a ‘cerebral haemorrhage’ on a Friday morning. I was in a hospital that morning. I didn’t see a doctor of any description until the following Monday ... When somebody eventually realised I’d had a sub-anachroid haemorrhage with an “anomaly” I was eventually moved to a specialist unit. The consequences of that delay and the consequent ‘falling through the net’ have cost me and my family dearly,” Peabody94 said. What do you think? Share your experiences using the form below. |