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You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jul/20/jeremy-hunt-hospital-doctors-iminworkjeremy-consultants-weekend
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| Mr Hunt, you’ve got us doctors wrong. That’s why I set up #iminworkjeremy | Mr Hunt, you’ve got us doctors wrong. That’s why I set up #iminworkjeremy |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| Last weekend, for the first time ever, I managed to make something trend on Twitter. It wasn’t a witty comment about Andy Murray triumphing in the Davis Cup, nor was it a retweet of a picture of somebody else’s cat. | Last weekend, for the first time ever, I managed to make something trend on Twitter. It wasn’t a witty comment about Andy Murray triumphing in the Davis Cup, nor was it a retweet of a picture of somebody else’s cat. |
| I simply told a man called Jeremy that I was at work that night. | I simply told a man called Jeremy that I was at work that night. |
| Three days later, thousands of people were telling Jeremy that they too were at work that weekend, using the hashtag #iminworkjeremy. Day and night, Friday to Monday, a large group of people felt Jeremy simply had to know what they were up to. | Three days later, thousands of people were telling Jeremy that they too were at work that weekend, using the hashtag #iminworkjeremy. Day and night, Friday to Monday, a large group of people felt Jeremy simply had to know what they were up to. |
| Related: Jeremy Hunt gives NHS consultants ultimatum on weekend working | |
| Because Jeremy is fairly important in the running of the country. Well, part of the country anyway – that part where the sick can just turn up and be treated without money changing hands. The part I work in, in fact, as a junior doctor. | Because Jeremy is fairly important in the running of the country. Well, part of the country anyway – that part where the sick can just turn up and be treated without money changing hands. The part I work in, in fact, as a junior doctor. |
| Jeremy is concerned about how his part of the country is being run. He is upset that the ones who keep the sick alive – the doctors – aren’t there at weekends. | Jeremy is concerned about how his part of the country is being run. He is upset that the ones who keep the sick alive – the doctors – aren’t there at weekends. |
| It’s just a pity Jeremy is wrong. | It’s just a pity Jeremy is wrong. |
| The Jeremy in question is, of course, secretary of state for health, the Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt, who last week announced he would bring in a 24-hour health service, seven days a week. To do this, he would alter consultant contracts to stop them including an “opt-out” from weekend working – by force, if need be. To bolster his point, he told the public that there were not many consultants in at the weekends, and also that you were more likely to die if you came to hospital at a weekend. | The Jeremy in question is, of course, secretary of state for health, the Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt, who last week announced he would bring in a 24-hour health service, seven days a week. To do this, he would alter consultant contracts to stop them including an “opt-out” from weekend working – by force, if need be. To bolster his point, he told the public that there were not many consultants in at the weekends, and also that you were more likely to die if you came to hospital at a weekend. |
| I am not a consultant, far from it, but I do know that if and when I become a consultant, I will work weekends and I will be in at night. I accepted this when I took the role on. | I am not a consultant, far from it, but I do know that if and when I become a consultant, I will work weekends and I will be in at night. I accepted this when I took the role on. |
| So why did I, and the rest of my campaign group, tell the nation’s health workers to tell Mr Hunt that we were indeed working over the weekend? | So why did I, and the rest of my campaign group, tell the nation’s health workers to tell Mr Hunt that we were indeed working over the weekend? |
| I think, firstly, it was in answer to the claim that consultants do not work on Saturdays and Sundays. Our campaign has demonstrated that, day and night, there are doctors of all grades at work, often working unsociable hours. | I think, firstly, it was in answer to the claim that consultants do not work on Saturdays and Sundays. Our campaign has demonstrated that, day and night, there are doctors of all grades at work, often working unsociable hours. |
| He hasn’t told us how many consultants are in the NHS and, crucially, he hasn’t told us how many of those consultants have opted out of weekend working. The consultants who got involved in the Twitter campaign certainly haven’t opted out. And maybe, in some cases, there’s a good reason for opting out too – do you want a 68-year-old doing your caesarean section at 4am? As a campaign group, we cannot allow Mr Hunt to scare the public into thinking that coming into hospital at a weekend means being treated by a bumbling 23 year old, fresh from medical school. | He hasn’t told us how many consultants are in the NHS and, crucially, he hasn’t told us how many of those consultants have opted out of weekend working. The consultants who got involved in the Twitter campaign certainly haven’t opted out. And maybe, in some cases, there’s a good reason for opting out too – do you want a 68-year-old doing your caesarean section at 4am? As a campaign group, we cannot allow Mr Hunt to scare the public into thinking that coming into hospital at a weekend means being treated by a bumbling 23 year old, fresh from medical school. |
| Related: Does Jeremy Hunt think a consultant could do all this alone? | Anamika Basu | Related: Does Jeremy Hunt think a consultant could do all this alone? | Anamika Basu |
| The second reason we started the campaign is to highlight the requirements needed for a fully 24-hour service. Suppose a patient needs TPN, a special nutritional fluid that has to be made especially in a sterile environment. If the consultant comes in on a Saturday and says “give this patient some TPN” they might not get it until Monday, because the nutritional pharmacist might not be available that day. You can put all the consultants on the ground, but without the backroom infrastructure, you cannot enact the consultant’s decisions. Have you ever tried to discharge a frail old lady on a Saturday when there’s no social worker to assess her home needs? | The second reason we started the campaign is to highlight the requirements needed for a fully 24-hour service. Suppose a patient needs TPN, a special nutritional fluid that has to be made especially in a sterile environment. If the consultant comes in on a Saturday and says “give this patient some TPN” they might not get it until Monday, because the nutritional pharmacist might not be available that day. You can put all the consultants on the ground, but without the backroom infrastructure, you cannot enact the consultant’s decisions. Have you ever tried to discharge a frail old lady on a Saturday when there’s no social worker to assess her home needs? |
| The health secretary quoted the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine’s 2012 paper, asserting that 15% (its actually 16%, but never mind) of patients who die, entered the hospital at a weekend. What he didn’t mention was that they died within 30 days of entering hospital. They could come in on a Sunday and die 26 days later on a Friday. Is that because a consultant wasn’t there on a Sunday? | The health secretary quoted the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine’s 2012 paper, asserting that 15% (its actually 16%, but never mind) of patients who die, entered the hospital at a weekend. What he didn’t mention was that they died within 30 days of entering hospital. They could come in on a Sunday and die 26 days later on a Friday. Is that because a consultant wasn’t there on a Sunday? |
| Could there be other factors, like the patient coming in on a Sunday, in order to prepare for a high-risk operation on the Monday? The paper also says that the day on which people died rather than the day they were admitted was also important, but, more people died on a weekday (you know, when all the staff are in) compared to the weekend (when Jeremy imagines that I’m skiing or yachting). | Could there be other factors, like the patient coming in on a Sunday, in order to prepare for a high-risk operation on the Monday? The paper also says that the day on which people died rather than the day they were admitted was also important, but, more people died on a weekday (you know, when all the staff are in) compared to the weekend (when Jeremy imagines that I’m skiing or yachting). |
| Finally, the campaign was to raise morale of staff. It was never about getting a pay rise. We are faced with media and political whipping on an almost weekly basis at the moment. Yes, sometimes the system gets it wrong, and errors are made, but I’d like to think that nobody comes to work with the intention of harming people. Despite this, Mr Hunt harms us by painting us as overpaid, under-worked, Ferrari-driving, golf-playing part-timers. Our campaign has tried to fight back against this, and has brought a lot of us together. | Finally, the campaign was to raise morale of staff. It was never about getting a pay rise. We are faced with media and political whipping on an almost weekly basis at the moment. Yes, sometimes the system gets it wrong, and errors are made, but I’d like to think that nobody comes to work with the intention of harming people. Despite this, Mr Hunt harms us by painting us as overpaid, under-worked, Ferrari-driving, golf-playing part-timers. Our campaign has tried to fight back against this, and has brought a lot of us together. |
| What next for the campaign? I don’t know – we said it would be a one-off event. We think we’ve succeeded in highlighting how hard NHS staff work, and the aim was never to get the health secretary to resign, but of course next week, some people will probably still want to tell a man called Jeremy that they are in fact, working on the weekend. | What next for the campaign? I don’t know – we said it would be a one-off event. We think we’ve succeeded in highlighting how hard NHS staff work, and the aim was never to get the health secretary to resign, but of course next week, some people will probably still want to tell a man called Jeremy that they are in fact, working on the weekend. |
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