I agree that there is almost certainly no obligation to provide surgery
consultations on Saturday mornings but I do believe that it is regarded as
*normal hours* in the regs (not OOH) and so could not be delegated to an
outside provider without permission (currently from the HA  but maybe the PHC
Trust in future)

Yesterday we had 33 so-called emergencies in the surgery. Perhaps I could have
spent an hour on the 'phone and reduced this by 50% but that would still have
left 15 or so that we certainly wouldn't want to visit and would have swamped
the DDS had it been available.

Incidentally we only had one (genuine) visit during that time which reflects
on the skill of our staff and the effect of making it clear to patients that
we will be available in surgery and so we don't expect to make unnecessary
house calls. It would be a retrograde step to increase visits as the price for
not providing an emergency surgery.

Incidentally, although we no longer offer routine appointments on a Saturday
as a practice, though one partner does occasionally out of choice and another
does his vasectomy list then, we do occasionally have patients who work away
and whom we see on a Saturday as a service.

Frankly I don't mind this too much as I'm off all weekend after noon Saturday
except as ultimate backup if the DDS is overloaded. When I applied for Med.
School in 1969 I didn't expect to be doing a 9>5 job for five days a week. At
the risk of sounding complacent I believe that the combination of our
remuneration levels and our job security are virtually unique and 98% percent
of the population would kill for them and the reason society is prepared to
pay us quite well is because they perceive us as doing a difficult, sometimes
unpleasant and often rather unsocial job. I believe that other professions
such as social workers, nurses and teachers look upon our pay and status with
envy and would like to bring us on a level. If we revert to 9>5 Monday>Friday
responsibilities it will be much more difficult to counter these arguments.

Incidentally, if you're tempted to look at city lawyers, investment bankers
etc as an example of appropriate pay rates for us then do bear in mind that a)
they work in the private sector and b) they are ultimately perceived as being
expendable if they don't perform. They also tend to work quite hard outside
normal hours as well.

I think if individual partners find Saturdays especially problematic then it
may well be that someone would offer a quid pro quo - isn't that the advantage
of a partnership?

Robert Upshall


%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%