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Seven day working will be a challenge in terms of resources and changing contracts, conference hears

BMJ 2013; 347 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.f7017 (Published 22 November 2013) Cite this as: BMJ 2013;347:f7017
  1. Matthew Limb
  1. 1London

Doctors must not “duck” the challenge of providing services seven days a week, as this would be a “fantastic opportunity” to improve patient care, those attending a conference this week in London were told.

Chris Roseveare, who chaired a subcommittee of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges on seven day provision, said that variation in the quality of care over the week was unacceptable. “We are a long way off from making Sundays look the same as Tuesdays,” he said.

“We can’t duck this issue,” he told the conference. “The key challenge is that some organisations are a long way down the seven day route, but others have farther to go.”

Roseveare said that a seven day service would be challenging to implement in terms of finding resources and changing doctors’ contracts and job plans.

Mark Porter, the BMA’s chairman …

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