NHS lacks money and staff for seven-day operation, David Cameron told

NHS lacks money and staff for seven-day operation, David Cameron told NHS chief executive Simon Stevens, former health minister Norman Lamb and doctors’ groups cast doubt on prime minister’s ambition.

The head of the NHS, a former health minister and several medical bodies have warned David Cameron that financial problems and a lack of staff will make it difficult to achieve his ambition of a truly seven-day health service by 2020.

The prime minister’s reaffirmation of the plan, first unveiled during the election campaign, prompted questions about how the NHS, which is forecast to be £2bn in the red by the end of the year, would pay for becoming a full 24/7 operation. Continue reading... The Guardian

See also:

• Speech: PM on plans for a seven-day NHS Department of Health
• RCGP response to Prime Minister's speech on 'Seven Day' NHS Royal College of General Practitioners
• The RCN responds to plans for a new seven-day NHS Royal College of Nursing
• David Cameron to make NHS the first 7-days-a-week health service The Daily Mail
• Tech part of 7-day NHS - Cameron E-Health Insider
• David Cameron pledges seven-day NHS - video The Guardian
• NHS England chief: cash shortages could hit plans for seven-day health service The Guardian
• The Guardian view on the English NHS: the seven-day daydream | Editorial The Guardian
• David Cameron’s promise of a ‘seven-day NHS’ is rooted in ignorance, not evidence | Colin Leys The Guardian
• Can the NHS handle a seven-day service? Poll The Guardian
• Seven-day NHS unaffordable on existing budget, Lib Dems say OnMedica