Patients admitted to hospital at the weekends are more likely to die than those who arrive during the week, according to a large-scale review of NHS data.

 

People are 16 percent more likely to die within 30 days if they go into hospital on a Sunday than a Wednesday, and 11 percent more likely if admitted on a Saturday, said the research published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine.

 

Researchers called this a "significantly higher risk" while highlighting a range of possible reasons, including that patients with less serious conditions may have their admissions postponed until a weekday.

 

But they said that access to "all aspects of care" at weekends could improve outcomes for higher-risk patients.

 

The NHS Confederation, which speaks for all NHS organizations, admitted there was "an inconsistency in the care patients receive" depending on when they were admitted, which needed to improve.

 

And in an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said that more could be done to increase the number of senior doctors working at weekends.

 

In November, research by a hospital guide looking specifically at emergency admissions found that patients were almost 10 percent more likely to die if they entered hospital at the weekend.

 

Professor Domenico Pagano, lead researcher on the latest findings, said: "These results offer conclusive evidence that confirms previous reports of increased 30-day mortality risk for patients admitted to hospital with emergency conditions at the weekend."

 

The analysis by experts including those from University College London, the University of East Anglia and Birmingham University covered all 14.2 million admissions to British hospitals in 2009/10 — including both emergencies and planned admissions — and looked at more than 187,300 cases of patients who died within 30 days of being admitted.

 

Copyright 2012  AFP European Edition