24/7 NHS

Basic care is there, but if you're admitted to hospital on a Friday evening you'll be lucky to see a consultant or senior doctor until Monday.

Same with GPs - yes, you can get access to one in an emergency out of hours, but most surgeries these days only operate office hours.

One of the things they are hoping to do is get rid of extra pay for unsocial hours as in a 24/7 system there will be no unsocial hours.
RCN are thinking of balloting for industrial action for the first time ever.

I don't see a problem in seeing a locum out of hours. I don't see why GPs should be on call 24/7. The important thing is that you can see a GP.

DD2 bit her bottom lip off one Easter Sunday. A senior plastic surgeon came from the golf course and operated on her that day.

It seems to me to just be a way of reducing costs by cutting out of hours pay and forcing GPs to work longer hours. I would rather have a well rested GP treating me than one who has been on call for 48 or more hours and hasn't had a full night's sleep in that time.

There is already a shortage of GPs. How will making the job even less attractive deal with that?

I don't think GPs have been that hard-done-by since the 2004 Labour contract.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/10099044/The-graph-that-shows-Labour-is-to-blame-for-the-pressures-on-AandE.html

When did your own GP last make out of hours home visits?

I would never use the out of hours service. If I'm I'll enough to need a doctor, I'd go to A&E . I just don't believe the standard of out of hours service is good enough - unless it's one run by and staffed by GPs from local practices. Which is what we used to have before the ill- advised GP contract. I agree VQ about making being a GP less attractive- there's already a shortage in some areas and I believe many of the GP training courses have vacancies.

Not surprised RCN balloting for industrial action, most hospital nurses rely on unsocial hours supplemental pay to have a reasonable salary.
I recently completed a Return to Nursing course and was shocked that if I returned to working on a ward I would start at the bottom of the pay scale (I left nursing only 3 years ago), have to work 12 hour shifts (including 4 nights at least every 3 weeks) and no chance of any flexibility whatsoever. I'm carer for two frail, elderly parents and nights would have been a complete non-starter.
The 37.5 hour week is averaged out over a month, so it wasn't unusual for nurses to work 6 twelve hour shifts before a day off. Staff retention was appalling and nurses brought from overseas rarely stayed more than a few months.

For the first time in my whole working life I've turned my back on nursing (I left three years ago because of exhaustion and a very sick parent and the hospital wouldn't allow me to work flexibly)

I can see the nursing shortage escalating.

Yes Ana I don't understand why there is a shortage of GPs - but I suppose the problem is probably worse in poorer and disadvantaged areas where there is much more chronic disease and many patients with co - morbidities

Loopy - couldn't you try for a job in a GP practice? The hours there are much better ( at the moment!)

They're as rare as hens teeth around here GranntTwice unfortunately.

I'm now working for Age UK with no unsocial hours or weekends or Bank holidays and I'm earning a little more than going back to nursing. It suits me perfectly, but I'm saddened by having no choice really.

A great waste of 40 years of experience as a nurse.

www.opendemocracy.net/ournhs/jonathan-tomlinson/general-practice-after-general-election

That article doesn't show the last Labour government in a good light.

This is another example of governments making sweeping promises with no idea how they might be put into practice. It sounds great on paper to have access to a GP 24/7, but you need a lot of GPs to do that, and ones who are willing and eager to work all the unsocial hours. Some people cannot even get an appointment with their GP during the daytime in a reasonable length of time, let alone in the middle of the night!

My OH used to work shifts that had him on duty 24/7 for 5 days on a weekend on from Thursday morning till Monday night, with 2 surgeries and a full day's work included on the Th, Fri and Mon. It took a huge toll on his health and on family life and I would not wish that on any GP.

Doesn't show the last government in a good light, either. However, this government has five years to stop privatisation and put the money back into the NHS. But they won't, will they? That would spoil it for the private healthcare companies.

We don't know that, durhamjen. Please stop stating your opinions as facts.

So you want to wait until it's happened and then worry about it?

Ana - stating an opinion is just that. I suppose we could all put IMO after every opinion but that would be a bit tedious. I think we can all recognise the difference between an opinion and a fact. mishap's post, for example, is a mixture of facts and opinion and I can easily sort out which is which (IMO)

It's seemed wrong to me that you can shop 7 days a week and often 24 hours a week, yet something really essential like health care grinds to a halt at the weekend.

Having said that I think that conjuring up hundreds more GP's is a lot easier said than done. More consultants in hospitals at the weekend is something we definitely need. The weekend can seem endless when you're waiting for treatment and nobodies there till Monday.

I don't agree with Granny Twice about going to A&E. I always go through the out of hours service first. Ours all seem to be ex GP's and very experienced. If they say it's necessary I have no qualms about getting DH an ambulance.

'But they won't, will they? That would spoil it for the private healthcare companies' is an opinion which was stated as though it was a 'goes without saying' fact.

I'm all for people giving their opinions and views, but these constant snide aspertions get very wearing.

aspersions!

Why does it have to be my own GP who makes the out of hours home visit? As long as the GP is qualified it doesn't matter. The last out of hours visit I had was about six months ago when I was doubled up in pain. The locum GP called an ambulance and I was rushed to a and e.

DH saw a locum a couple of months ago and was quite correctly sent in an ambulance to a and e.

DGD saw locum only the other week. Was diagnosed and given appropriate treatment.

DGS1 had middle of the night home visit and again received appropriate treatment.

In each case the details appeared on our medical records so our registered surgeries must have been informed.

GrannyTwice...if you go to our local a and e with something that could be treated by a GP you are told to either go to your surgery's out of hours or wait to see your own GP the next day. They will not treat you for something that is neither an accident or an emergency.

But if it wasn't an accident or emergency I wouldn't need an out of hours GP so my point is that if I need a doctor out of hours I'm not risking the variable ones we get round here.

Blimey VQ

I did say that if the out of hours service was staffed by local GPs, I'd trust it but I don't trust ours so won't.