Patients in hospital are at greater risk of dying at weekends

Jun 27 2005

A new report by an independent health analyst, says hospital patients are at greater risk of dying at weekends.

The reason for the higher mortality rates on Saturdays and Sundays is apparently because of a shortage of senior doctors, and pressure on resources.

The report by Dr Foster, looked at patients in acute hospital trusts across England and found they were 8% more likely to die if admitted on a Sunday than in midweek, and 7% more likely on a Saturday.

The research, which was commissioned by the Times newspaper, studied the 80 diagnoses that led to the most hospital deaths and found a basic weekday mortality rate of under 10%.

The survey charted death rates between 2002 and 2004, according to the day admitted.

It appeared that the rate increased to up to 12.5% over the weekend, and even when the figures were adjusted to take into account that weekend patients may be different to weekday patients, the pattern remained the same.

A similar study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, came to the same conclusion and also showed a significantly higher mortality rate at the weekend in 23 leading causes of death, and not one condition had a lower mortality rate.

Sir Brian Jarman, senior research investigator at the division of health sciences at Imperial College, London, who approved the study, said having fewer staff at weekends, with less experience, could be a factor, as could a shortage of GP cover, which might account for a patient’s condition worsening before they reach hospital.

Dame Carol Black, president of the Royal College of Physicians, says the report was “deeply worrying”.

She says patients becoming ill at weekends deserve the same standards of care as they would receive in the week, but at present there are not enough doctors to run a consultant-led service at nights and weekends.