BMA annual meeting: Doctors’ leader attacks government for “wasted year” on seven day NHS

The leader of doctors in the United Kingdom has accused the government of “a wasted year” in which it pursued its policy of a seven day NHS in a vacuum of evidence rather than dealing with the financial crisis in the health service.

Speaking at the BMA’s annual representatives meeting in Belfast on 20 June, Mark Porter said that the line in the Conservatives’ 2015 election manifesto to deliver “a truly seven day NHS” had led to a “needless dispute with [the medical] profession.”

He told representatives, “[The policy] will mystify those who look back and ask what kind …