Date: 3 February 2012
Author: Julie Crossley

The Health Minister, Andrew Lansley has called for a "fundamental re-think" of how hospitals are run at weekends after mortality rates were estimated to be 20% higher than on weekdays.  In an interview, the Health Secretary said: “In the NHS if you fail to do something at the right time you have poor outcomes and that means people don’t recover as they should, or in some cases, die when they shouldn’t”.

Julie Crossley, a Clinical Negligence Lawyer at Ashton KCJ, says “It stands to reason that since the changes in working practice, and the reduction in hours doctors are allowed to work, there are significantly fewer senior doctors available at weekends.  It is worrying that the standard of care is seemingly much less for patients admitted over the weekend period and will inevitably lead to increased claims against the NHS”.