Death at the weekend

Abstract: Patients admitted as emergencies to hospitals at the weekend have higher death rates than patients admitted on weekdays. Policy makers have responded to this finding with health care system reform, on the assumption that reduced service provision underlies the ‘weekend effect’, and that more consistent hospital care throughout the week will reduce the disparity. In England, evidence for elevated weekend mortality has been used to justify controversial attempts to introduce a ‘seven day service’ across the NHS. However, in addition to impacting quality of care, restricted service availability at weekends could also lead to selection of patients with greater severity of illness.

In this seminar, Tim Doran will discuss the current policy environment and the most recent findings from the national research programme into the factors underlying elevated weekend mortality.