The health secretary, Jeremy Hunt and the British Medical Association are at loggerheads over proposed changes to Junior doctors’ contracts and strike action is being threatened. One of the key issues in contention is a claim made by Hunt that people are more likely to die if they’re admitted to hospital at the weekend.
Doctors are now collecting evidence of patients who they say came to harm as a result of not seeking medical help at a hospital at the weekend because Hunt has – wrongly, in their view – given the impression that care on Saturday and Sunday is poor, and that there is a 15% greater chance of those admitted then dying, because too few consultants are on duty. Their campaign is called #thehunteffect. This is a conscious reference to Hunt’s use of the phrase “weekend effect” to denote the higher risk of dying for those admitted as an emergency at the weekend.
Can you help us find out more about this story? We’d like to hear from doctors who have heard that a patient hasn’t sought medical help from a hospital at the weekend - and patients who have waited till Monday before going to hospital.
Please share your experiences in the form below, you can remain anonymous but please leave a contact details, as this will help us significantly with our reporting.
