NHS cannot afford a seven-day week

The British Medical Association has warned that attempts to make hospitals work seven days a week are unaffordable because the move will cost the NHS billions of pounds a year.

Chairman of the BMA’s consultants’ committee Dr Mark Porter said there was no money to pay for such an expansion of services under the current financial constraints, though NHS medical director Professor Sir Bruce Keogh wants the health service to be in a position where the service on a Saturday was the same as on a Wednesday as “people get sick seven days a week.”

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