Lack of doctors not to blame for higher weekend hospital deaths, landmark study shows
According to a new study, a lack of GP services and poor community healthcare could be behind the higher rates of death among patients admitted to hospital on the weekends.
Until now, a lack of doctors were to blame for the higher death rates but now the new research suggests there is no evidence of a link between mortality rates and the number of consultants on duty.
“This report appears to show that you can’t look at hospitals and ignore the rest, because people start off in the community and go in and out of hospital, and we need the same forensic focus on our services that we’ve had on acute hospitals.” Says Tracy Allen, chief executive of the Community Health Services Foundation Trust.
Source: The Independent, 2 August 2021