Commenting today (16 July 2015) on plans to introduce seven day working to the NHS, Dr David Crossley, Consultant Anaesthetist and Clinical Lead for the Surgical Division, Weston Area Health NHS Trust said:
“Weston is fully committed in principle to seven day working. In fact for many years some of our speciality emergency surgical services such as Orthopedics and general surgery are delivered or supervised by Consultants at weekends. Mortality rates at Weston General are no different at weekends compared to weekdays.
“It’s important to recognise that other services such as Radiology and pathology and therapies such as physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy currently all work over seven days at Weston too.
“Consultants and senior clinicians are unique specialists – highly trained and skilled - and their presence can only bring additional benefits to patient care and safety. Having completed an extensive piece of work on seven day working we also recognise that to provide a full seven day service would require significant investment and so we would need to establish that in order to deliver it.”