Poll: Should doctors have to work seven day weeks?

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has accused the doctors' union of trying to be a 'roadblock to reform' as he said he intends to see most doctors on seven-day contracts in the next five years.

Setting out his 'vision' for the future of the NHS – which he said was not just for the next five years, but the next 25 – Mr Hunt said the British Medical Association (BMA) was 'not remotely in touch with their members'.

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He said the plans were not about making doctors work more hours, adding: "I have yet to meet a consultant who would be happy for their own family to be admitted on a weekend."

He is giving the union six weeks to negotiate changes to working contracts for hospital consultants and junior doctors after claiming around 6,000 lives are lost a year for lack of senior staff on Saturdays and Sundays.

In a speech to the King's Fund in central London, Mr Hunt said: "Be in no doubt: if we can't negotiate, we are ready to impose a new contract."

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The BMA said doctors supported more seven-day hospital services but have repeatedly called for the Government to say how they will fund and staff the changes.

BMA council chairman Dr Mark Porter said: "Despite whatever the Health Secretary may claim, his simplistic approach ignores the fact that this is a much broader issue than just doctors' contracts.

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"Today's announcement is nothing more than a wholesale attack on doctors to mask the fact that for two years the Government has failed to outline any concrete proposals for more seven-day hospital services."

Mr Hunt said he wanted to see the NHS move away from a target-driven culture to a patient-driven and 'more human system'.

Among the new measures are a new Independent Patient Investigation Branch modelled on the Air Accident Investigation Branch used by the airline industry, which will see more of a 'no blame learning culture' introduced.