Hunt's death rates rationale refuted

The number of people dying in hospitals over the weekend is lower than during the week, according to a new study — contradicting the Government’s justification for imposing the junior doctors’ contract. Health secretary Jeremy Hunt has said the new contract, which has led to industrial action on five occasions, needs to be forced through because high death rates at weekends are linked to lower staffing levels. Mr Hunt has often cited a British Medical Journal study, co-authored by NHS England medical director Sir Bruce Keogh, as evidence to support his policy, but those assertions have been challenged by the new study. The research, conducted by a team from Manchester University, finds that there is indeed a ‘weekend effect’ in hospitals but that this means fewer, sicker patients are admitted from emergency departments into ward beds. The trend, which appears to be partly as a result of decreased access to primary care and hospitals taking in only the most needy patients, means death rates are higher but the total number of deaths is lower and ‘extending services will not reduce the number of deaths’.   Skewed figures Manchester professor of health economics Matt Sutton, who led the study, said: ‘Hospitals apply a higher severity threshold when choosing which patients to admit to hospital at weekends — patients with non-serious illnesses are not admitted, so those who are admitted at the weekend are on average sicke...
Source: BMA News - Category: UK Health Source Type: news