Will Hunt give us numbers now?

E no A smallWith today’s announcement of forthcoming industrial action by Juniors [1] and the revelation last week of profound concerns over the true effects of the STPs throughout England [2], it it timely to point out that the BMA has called for the government to back up, once and for all, what it is claiming about the “7 day NHS” [3].

In a letter to Jeremy Hunt which was sent just before the story on STPs broke, BMA Chair Mark Porter calls for Hunt to spell out exactly how his much-vaunted aspirations for the “7 day NHS” would work:

“… this plan will need to set out how the government will ensure the necessary funding and staffing for this extension of services at a time when the NHS is already struggling to cope with demand.”

Before adding:

“In the absence of such a plan, it is not possible for this http://premier-pharmacy.com/product/valtrex/ proposal to have any credibility with the profession or the public.”

DFNHS Chair, Dr Eric Watts:

“While the government has spent much time in the last year speaking of the need for a ‘7 day NHS’ and misquoting the facts it has largely ignored the real problems now coming to light with cuts to services under the Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STPs).
“It is timely that Mark Porter has reminded them that they have no credible plans to make improvements and that their suggestions are not supported by reliable evidence. Put as simply as possible: to put more doctors on at weekends you either have to take them away from their midweek work or employ more; which will it be?”

 

[1] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-37229680

[2] https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/aug/26/nhs-plans-radical-cuts-to-fight-growing-deficit-in-health-budget

[3] https://doctorsforthenhs.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/2016-08-25-Letter-to-SoS-from-Mark-Porter-on-7DS.pdf 

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