to say that I am really glad not to be in labour today

[var123]

and to feel really sorry for anyone who is. Its stressful enough without worrying about not getting help if things start to go wrong.

I think we need to clear something up about weekend care too. Weekend care, as almost anyone who has been left languishing in a bed from Friday to Monday, is categorically NOT the same as care Monday to Friday. It's just not. Things grind to a halt.

If you are seriously ill and need emergency care, then yes, you will be looked after properly. You may however wait a while for a consultant on call to come in, for example. But you will be treated appropriately.

But if you're just moderately unwell but still in an impatient bed, say you need a non urgent scan or other diagnostic, or a social care place arranged, then you're pretty much going nowhere and everything stops for 48 hours.

This needs fixing for the NHS to be as efficient as it can, and to make the very best use of these huge hospitals and specialist equipment we have. I firmly believe the government is right on that.

But this is not the fault of junior doctors, who ARE in work over weekends. The issue is other professions; diagnostic and therapeutic services, links to GPs, community nursing and services, social care. Unless the government target those areas, then a 24/7 NHS won't happen. But I did find the #iminworkjeremy campaign a bit disingenuous. It's true, the JDs were in work, but hospital services don't run 'properly' over a weekend.

Anyway, the government is almost certainly coming for consultant and agenda for change contracts next to impose similar weekend working conditions.

7 day a week full services are easily fixed - shedloads more money and loads more staff. That's all there is to it...

the problem is Hunt who is doing the classic shit-manager thing, refusing to listen to the bleeding obvious in the hope that if he screams enough, there will be a miracle. It doesn't work like that and he seems unable to understand.

I had DD by elective c section on the day of the last strike. It was fabulous. I was told its their problem, not mine, so I wasn't worried. I had 4 consultants in theatre and it was a lovely atmosphere, like they were all enjoying catching up with each other!

I think the reason the government want a 7 day NHS is simply so that they can make services more profitable ready to hand them over to private companies.

I have no problem with the concept, provided that at least an additional 2/7 of money is found to fund it. (In practice, more will be needed because everything is already so overstretched and people are working so many hours for free).

Sorry - that should say, I have no problem with the concept OF A 7 DAY SERVICE. I do have a huge problem with it being handed to private companies.

A 7 day NHS won't be more profitable though, it's going to cost more. Because they are going to need to resource an extra two days and fit more work into the same timescale.

This government promised the NHS an additional £8bn through the life of this parliament. That's the minimum amount of money assessed by NHS England as needed to keep the light on, basically. Keep everything moving, just. It needs to go hand in hand with further unprecedented savings. It was already an enormous challenge.

But then David Cameron attached the principle of 7 day working to the £8bn. Which doesn't work at all. The £8bn plugs the existing gap we see widening every day between funding and requirement. It doesn't pay for an extra two days.

Hence the only way to attempt to get a 7 day NHS is to reduce the cost of those extra two days. Staff are about 75% of NHS cost. If you make weekend staff cheaper you make the whole thing more affordable.

I disagree with this, btw, as an approach. I think staff should be paid more for weekend working in recognition of the impact on family life. I'm just explaining the logic. It really is all about money.

Poor OP fell for spin in the press and from Hunt.

much better than giving birth on the day when the drs rotate their placements and they are on the wards for their first few hours having just arrived from geriatrics or paeds etc.

My DH is one of the consultants providing cover today - he isn't supposed to be in because he's supposed to be on Parental Leave following the early birth of our son last week but we decided it was important for him to provide cover today and tomorrow. He says that so far today has been fine in his acute specialty.
I have also just spoken to my friend who is currently in labour at his hospital who has no concerns about her care today (she, like I,has complex maternity needs) , she said the drs & MWs have been fab so far, she can't wait to meet her little one and the bonus of the strike was that for once it was easy to park the car at the hospital!

Well, those changeover days are also planned for in my experience. They don't just creep up unannounced!

"I did read an article in my local paper at the weekend about the maternity unit closing and mothers being diverted quite a few miles away, which would not be ideal if you needed to get in quick."

My local hospital (big hospital, tertiary referral centre) is always having to close because there aren't enough midwives. They have the rooms and the doctors, but don't have enough midwives to provide safe care. (And there won't be a midwife happy about that. They know they are stretched as it is.)

Stretching junior doctors over a 7 day elective care as well as the already present 7 day emergency care is not going to fix that, and will actually make things more dangerous all round.

What we need is more doctors/nurses/midwives/support staff, which all needs more money and investment. That's not what is on offer sadly.

mouthful, "Well, those changeover days are also planned for in my experience. They don't just creep up unannounced!"

Neither did these strike days. The BMA gave hospitals 6 weeks notice, so plenty of time to plan!

My friend is in actual labour today and isn't worried or moaning! (Well she may well be moaning but definitely not about this.)

wonkylegs - you and your DH sound awesome! Many congratulations on your new arrival.

I'd rather be in today then on new junior doctors day or the day they transition round the wards!

Are you a Tory mole, OP?

I check back for 10 seconds to see if the thread is still going and I get this!
Are you a Tory mole, OP?

YABU.

I am waiting to see my consultant about something non-urgent today (well, it's urgent to me but not in the grand scheme of things, IYSWIM). I probably won't get to see him because he is likely to be busy providing cover for the junior doctors who are out on strike.

But I'm not going to be a massive arsehole and start complaining about that because I am not a special snowflake who considers themselves more important than thousands of people whose work contracts are being changed to allow exploitative and dangerous conditions.

I'm not going to be a massive arsehole and start complaining That's a good, if obvious, decision. (but you failed to understand my OP althoguh i am not sure I could have made it any simpler).

You must be a mole to be writing such an OP! Or a troll. Or a journo.
Or maybe are you a doctor doing a kind of 'reverse' thread. That would be slightly more 'Malcolm Tucker' and less obvious.
Sigh.

Yes, just me being thick, that's right, OP. I'm a bit hard of thinking. Poor me, failing to understand.

I work in theatres. We have cancelled all elective surgeries today apart from the breast cancer list. Emergency theatre and trauma theatre are running as planned as is the emergency obstetric theatre. If more than one woman needs a c section at the same time (it actually rarely happens) then we will do what we always do and they will go into the emergency theatre. We have around 10 consultant gynaes. No need to worry at all.

I didn't get a chance to read our trust strike plan before i left last night (i'm off today) but i will tomorrow.

Are you a Tory mole, OP?

Well are you?

Or are you just a GF?

The whole point of the strike is to fight against half arsed care by over stretched, tired doctors. The government proposals for a '7' day NHS while only paying for a '5' day one is preposterous and dangerous. It is running the NHS down in order to privatise it.

If I wasn't in Scotland I'd be tempted to join the picket lines. And for the record, I'd be confident in my care if I was having a baby today.

No probs having a baby today. Many places are going ahead with their elective section lists. In fact - speaking to colleagues there are at least 3 in our region doing a double list.