Only 1% of consultants ‘opt out’ of weekend work

Jeremy Hunt’s justification for reforming NHS working practices has been called into question after it was revealed that less than 1 per cent of consultants actually use a contract loophole to “opt out” of weekend work.

Freedom of Information (FOI) responses from 23 hos- pital trusts show that only 35 out of the 5,661 consultants they employ “actively opt out” of doing non-emergencywork at weekends.

The Health Secretary, who has angered doctors by calling on their union, the British Medical Association (BMA), to “get real” over the need for more weekend working in the NHS, has said he wants to remove the “opt-out”clause for newly qualified doctors. The BMAhas said it is willing to see the opt-out clause dropped, but wants new safeguards in place to protect doctors from overwork and burnout.

A Department of Health spokesperson said the FOI data did not show how many consultants had used the threat of an opt-out to negotiate better shift rates for non-emergency weekend working.