Call for seven-day-a-week hospital surgery hubs

THE NHS must perform operations seven days a week, Lord Darzi, the former health minister, has demanded, arguing that “British Airways does not leave its planes on the tarmac over the weekend”.

The surgeon, who helped bring down waiting lists under the last Labour government, said hospitals should be fully staffed all week.

Currently, half of NHS hospitals close their operating theatres at weekends, with the number of elective operations, such as hip replacements, falling by 80 per cent on Saturdays and Sundays.

In a wide-ranging report by the The Times Health Commission, Lord Darzi and the other commissioners, called for NHS reforms which would create seven-day-a-week surgical hubs and bring in high-intensity weekend services at some hospitals to get through a week’s operations in a single day.

Guys and St Thomas’ in London have already introduced “F1 pit stop-style” surgery where surgeons have just a couple of minutes between patients, and operate for 90 per cent of their shift rather than the traditional 40 per cent. It has increased daily knee replacements from three to 12, and varicose veins from five to 25.

Lord Darzi said that running packed “morning to evening” operating theatres had helped bring down waiting lists under Gordon Brown.

He said: “British Airways does not leave its planes on the tarmac over the weekend. I brought European surgeons across. They operated from morning to evening. We cleared 3,000 cases in about three-and-a-half months. I brought back retired surgeons, who reviewed all the people on the waiting lists. We removed 20 per cent of them.”

The Department of Health and Social Care said: “Cutting waiting lists is one of this Prime Minister’s top priorities. We are making good progress on tackling the longest waits.”