Out of Hours Care 7-day working without the weekday support?

The NHS aspires towards 7-day working for allied health professionals (Department of Health (DoH), 2000a). However, insufficient staff numbers and years of inadequate investment look likely to prevent this from becoming a reality in the medium term. Yet services need to deliver much-needed improved access to care, reduced length of stay and prevention of admission to offset the capacity issues faced by the majority of NHS trusts. Weekend and evening overtime rotas are seen by many trusts as a stop-gap measure to address the above issues. However, unlike appropriately funded 7-day working, the issues of access to senior opinion and the development and maintenance of competence in this situation are much less clear.