Hospital guide: death rates 10 per cent higher at weekends
Activer le mode zenMartin Beckford
The annual hospital guide published by Dr Foster Intelligence using official figures shows that one in eight trusts has higher than expected death rates on Saturdays and Sundays, suggesting they are only working to a five-day week.
Many hospitals have far fewer senior consultants on site outside of normal office hours, the data show, and rely on junior doctors and nurses to treat critically ill patients.
In a handful of trusts, the mortality rate rises by 20 per cent or more between weekdays and weekends.
Low staffing levels in A&E have been identified as one of the long-standing problems at Stafford Hospital, where hundreds of patients died after receiving appalling care, and the unit will close overnight for three months starting this week.
Pour citer cette ressource :
"Hospital guide: death rates 10 per cent higher at weekends", La Clé des Langues [en ligne], Lyon, ENS de LYON/DGESCO (ISSN 2107-7029), novembre 2011. Consulté le 19/04/2024. URL: https://cle.ens-lyon.fr/anglais/archives/archives-revue-de-presse/hospital-guide-death-rates-10-per-cent-higher-at-weekends