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AIBU?

To be fed up with the 7-day NHS posts on facebook

20 replies

blaeberry · 17/02/2016 22:46

I keep getting people sharing posts about how they (or someone) went to a&e on a Saturday and were treated ergo it is rubbish to say the NHS isn't a 7 day service. Everyone knows the NHS provides many services 7 days a week but that is not what the argument is about. They don't provide all services 7 days a week. For example outpatient appointments are generally 5 days a week as are many non-emergency treatments. If resources could be used more efficiently 7-days a week then I think they should be. I don't think many people disagree with this. The real problem is that there needs to be extra funding to enable this to happen (eg to employ more staff). aibu to be fed up with this straw man and wish people would present the true problem?

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ghostyslovesheep · 17/02/2016 22:48

well isn't it good FB isn't compulsory then and you can delete people and hide posts and everything

I don't want resources used to offer routine apts on a Sunday thanks

Titsywoo · 17/02/2016 22:52

I had an outpatient ultrasound on a Sunday recently - the lady there said they do a lot nowadays at the weekend.

acasualobserver · 17/02/2016 22:52

I'd like as many people as possible to have the same day off as their friends, family and relatives.

liinyo · 17/02/2016 22:53

This surprised me. All I have seen on FB is a wide range of people supporting the doctors ( and J H bashing). Even my normally right wing daughter is supporting them.

SnuffleGruntSnorter · 17/02/2016 22:54

Have you seen people talk about the hunt effect? Where people genuinely believe if they go to a&e on the weekend they won't see a doctor because of irresponsible government propaganda? So they wait until Monday and suffer because of the delay to their treatment.

The real issue is the government is just packaging the NHS up nicely to appeal to virgin healthcare - they're not interested in your chronic long term expensive conditions. The money lies in the nice, neat 'fixable' non urgent things. Elective surgery and so on.

So he plan as far as I see it: underfund and over stretch staff when the system is already held up by good will. Then it breaks - of course it's all the fault of those lazy doctors who don't want to work weekends. Perfect reason to sell it off to private companies!! And now those nice, appealing 'neat' treatable things are coming through the door all week long. Happy fat cats. Unhappy patients. Unhappy taxpayers.

blaeberry · 17/02/2016 22:55

Why not? I needed a non-emergency operation but there was a limit on how many operations the local hospital could perform due to operating theatre capacity. In order to clear the waiting list I was operated on on a Sunday. Alternatively, they could spend money on building and operating another theatre during the week which would also be relatively idle at the weekend - why would that be better?

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lougle · 17/02/2016 22:56

The problem is that Jeremy Hunt has told the public that the selfish Doctors are blocking them from receiving 7 day care. But the doctors are already there 7 days per week (between them). The issue is the fact that the pharmacy shuts, radiography shuts down, clinical coders do Monday to Friday, social services only operate Monday to Friday, save emergencies....the list goes on.

Flugelpip · 17/02/2016 22:57

If you knew anyone who works in the NHS you would understand that they frequently work weekends too, on non-emergency cases/out-patient appointments, to catch up on long lists and reduce waiting times, at the expense of their family life.

The non-issue here is entirely the government's creation. People are politically apathetic and ill-informed so there is an important role in educating the public about what the NHS does and how it does it, and what the government's plans mean. Like it or not, Facebook is a good way to get that across but obviously not good enough for some people

CantChoose · 17/02/2016 22:58

I think it's more because it has been implied by certain politicians and in some media outlets that nothing at all happens at the weekend. Most people realise this isn't true but those posts are probably there to spread the word...
I've certainly had patients ask me if there are any doctors in the hospital at weekends. As I work alternate weekends this makes me cry inside.
FWIW I used to do a GP Saturday session and the DNA (didn't show up) rate was 48%...

EElisavetaOfBelsornia · 17/02/2016 22:59

The only part which annoys me - and I do support the junior doctors, I totally do - is that they have garnered a level of public support not equally applied to police officers, Probation officers, social workers, civil servants, youth workers or the raft of other public sector staff getting just as royally shafted by the government, and providing just as valuable public services. I know and not proud of it, good on them for harnessing social media and middle class outrage.

CantChoose · 17/02/2016 23:01

Blaeberry - because, as acasualobserver kindly said, sometimes it's nice to have the same day off as your school-ages children, not to mention friends and family. I'm happy to work weekends where needed but if adequate funding for 5 day non elective work was in place id need to work fewer of them and would be happier as a result...

lougle · 17/02/2016 23:02

I work in ICU. My rota is 50%/50% nights vs days, and 50%/50% weekdays vs weekends. We cover the nights exactly the same as the days. We don't operate a skeleton staff. That's the reality of the NHS. Everything else is a smokescreen.

LeanneBattersby · 17/02/2016 23:06

I agree EElisaveta. When it's doctors, it's 'sticking up for their rights' but when it's a,less,revered sector (teachers, for example) it's 'holding the country to ransom'.

FWIW the doctors have my full backing.

blaeberry · 17/02/2016 23:08

ghost why shouldn't resources be used at the weekend? I had a non-emergency op on a Sunday because the operating theatres were being used to full capacity in the week and a waiting list was building up. An alternative would be to build and operate another theatre which would also stand idle most of the weekend. Why is this better if weekend use would mean sufficient capacity?

Junior doctors already work weekends and I don't think 'we should always have weekends off' is reasonable. The problem is weekend pay/rotas/hours worked/stretching 5-day staffing into 7. This could be solved by properly funding a 7-day full service include recruiting extra staff (and paying some extra for weekend working). I don't think the principal of weekend working itself is one of the BMA's sticking points.

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blaeberry · 17/02/2016 23:10

Oops, didn't think my last post posted

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CantChoose · 17/02/2016 23:14

You're right blaeberry. Basically, stretching the services that are currently five day into seven day without increased resources just means a worse service but over more days. It's basic maths really... There's an excellent YouTube video demonstrating this using Lego :)

Hobbes8 · 17/02/2016 23:20

Blaeberry - I have no problem with theatres being utilised at weekends, but if that is genuinely to be additional capacity it require significant extra staffing. If you run weekend sessions without a significant staffing increase then those staff will have to take time off during the week. That's ok, I suppose, if it gives working people more choice about when to be treated, but it doesn't actually help increase the amount the theatre is used.

The issue I have with the 7 day argument is that it's based on flawed data. Hunt misuses a statistic about patients being more likely to die if they are admitted to hospital at the weekend. But that's because patients only tend to be admitted at the weekend if they are critically ill, and therefore more likely to die. If we ran more routine operations on he weekend then more patients would be admitted then and the statistic would improve, but it wouldn't be a result of better care. And as a PP mention the consequence of bandying about this dangerous scaremongering misinformation is that genuinely sick patients don't go to hospital at the weekend because they think they will die.

Hobbes8 · 17/02/2016 23:21

Sorry, Blaeberry, we cross posted and appear to bein furious agreement with each other!

Headofthehive55 · 17/02/2016 23:29

IT may not be the actual physical operating theatre that is full, but at the weekend it's staffed with staff that are on overtime and getting extra pay. I'm prepared to do an extra day for an extra rate of pay ( that's how they persude people to come in) but if I did work on weekends usually, I wouldn't come in extra in the week. So you could move all Tuesday's patients to Saturday if you wanted. I'd work Saturday. But I'd be missing Tuesday....

Headofthehive55 · 17/02/2016 23:30

cross posted with you Hobbes!

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