Seven day services will need 4000 extra doctors, says leaked report

Up to 4000 more doctors will be needed to staff seven day services in the NHS in England, a leaked report has said.

The internal Department of Health report, leaked to the Guardian, said that 11 000 more staff would be needed, including 4000 more doctors (1600 consultants, 1500 registrars, and 900 junior doctors).1 These numbers were “calculated by increasing the number of staff at the weekend . . . in order to match weekdays.”

A seven day service would cost an additional £900m (€1.2m; $1.3m) a year after “benefits such as reduced length of stay and reduced admissions” were taken into account, said the report, quoting figures from another unpublished report, commissioned from the consultancy group Deloitte …