Doctors’ hours up

Hospitals in England will now have to ensure that senior doctors are available seven days a week to tackle the higher death rates at weekends.

Apart from some evening surgeries, health centres are only open in “office hours”, and most out-of-hours care is provided by separate services.

Perhaps the time has come for senior general practitioners to be available seven days a week to take pressure off the casualty and emergency departments of the hospitals. Patients seen at home out of hours by their own GPs are probably more likely to be kept there as they should know the medical and social histories of their patients.

Hugh M Mackenzie

Bonnethill Road

Pitlochry