Tony Blair's latest wheeze - round-the-clock surgery - will not save the NHS

Round-the-clock surgery will not save the NHS

Extract:

"Even in the more efficient trusts, it is rare to find operating theatres in use on Friday afternoons, let alone at the weekends. There are some good, practical reasons for this. Operating theatres require deep cleaning on a regular basis if MRSA is not to become even more prevalent than at present. And staffing up for such round-the-clock surgery would add enormously to the NHS's already gargantuan wage bill.

On a more prosaic note, who among us would want to undergo a tricky surgical procedure at three in the morning, when even the most skilled surgeons may not be quite up to snuff?

Does Mr Blair spell out how this exciting new vision of round-the-clock surgery is to be delivered? Only by invoking his old friends "change and innovation" - the same change and innovation that were supposed to accompany the record levels of NHS spending under New Labour, but that have been palpably absent throughout."

Operations round the clock would not help the NHS for the reasons detailed in the article.

Improving the NHS should start with basics: instruct medical students clearly about drug side-effects and test them rigorously on these. - Instil in them that if they are not absolutely up to speed on a drug's side-effects when they are practising doctors, that it is unwise, immoral and downright dangerous to prescribe it. - That would be a good start to meaningful and inexpensive reform of the NHS.