Higher risk of death observed for NHS patients admitted at weekends

Patients admitted to NHS hospitals at weekends are more likely to be more seriously ill and have a higher risk of death, according to a new study.

Published in the British Medical Journal, the analysis – carried out as a collaboration between University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trusts and University College London – examined the effect of hospital admission day on death rates across NHS England hospitals.

Looking at data for 2013-14, they found that around 11,000 more people die each year within 30 days of admission to hospital on Friday, Saturday, Sunday or Monday compared with the other three days of the week.

The findings can be partly explained by the reduced support services that start from late Friday through the weekend, leading to disruption on Monday morning.

However, an accompanying feature article by Helen Crump at the Nuffield Trust said it is not clear how or to what extent investment in current plans for seven-day services will deliver improvements on this front, if at all.

She warned that without additional hiring, expanding weekend services "will leave a gap in the hospital's weekday rota, with potentially serious consequences across other services".