For his pledge for the 2015 election, Prime Minister David Cameron has promised to make NHS accessible 7 days a week by 2020. Cameron mentioned that it has become extremely difficult to access the NHS “out of hours”. He stated, “For years it's been too hard to access the NHS out of hours. But illness doesn't respect working hours. Heart attacks, major accidents, babies- these things don't just come from nine to five."
David Cameron would also want GPs to be open for up to 12 hours every day to alleviate the burden on hospitals and also giving access to working people to a doctor at the weekends. He further stressed, "Already millions more people can see a GP seven days a week but by 2020 I want this for everyone, with hospitals properly staffed especially for urgent and emergency care, so that everyone will have access to the NHS services they need seven days a week by 2020- the first country in the world to make this happen."
In response to the Prime Minister's pledge, the BMA (British Medical Association) conferred that, “patients should have access to the same high quality of care, seven days a week. Doctors across the country already lead the delivery of this care in our GP surgeries and hospitals.”
However, they also believed that these were promises made which will not be fulfilled, as there are no resourceful plans which would help the NHS and its staff members. “Without a detailed, fully-costed plan to provide the staff and resources needed to deliver more seven-day services, this is at best an empty pledge and at worst shameless political game playing with the NHS ahead of the election... Rather than electioneering and political game playing with the NHS, we need an open and honest public debate on seven-day services and what the NHS can deliver in the face of a £30bn funding gap.”
