As many as 3,000 heart attack and stroke victims every year are suffering delays in being admitted to hospital if they fall ill at the weekend, a new report suggests.
New analysis of national NHS data shows there has been a steep drop in the number of patients being admitted to hospital as an emergency at the weekend. Sharper still is the fall in the number of those sent there by GPs.
The figures indicate that every year, 3,144 patients who are suffering from heart attacks and strokes are facing delays of at least 24 hours before being admitted to hospital, due to their case not being identified as an emergency.
Earlier this week (22nd February) senior doctors warned that patients are dying needlessly as a result of poor access to GPs. They said out-of-hours services were failing to identify the emergency cases that should be sent to hospital.
President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, Dr Cliff Mann, told The Telegraph these figures confirmed the risks patients face as a result of a “two-tier” service in the NHS, making it much less safe for patients to fall ill at weekends.
“The fact is we are running a two-tier operation,” he said. “If you fall ill between 8am and 8pm Monday to Friday you get one type of service, but if it happens at night or weekends you are basically looking at a skeleton service.
“For patients who are suffering from time-critical illnesses – sepsis, stroke and heart attacks – delays mean opportunities to intervene are lost, which can mean lives lost.”
A landmark study published in the British Medical Journal in 2013 found that patients undergoing operations at weekends were less likely to survive the operation.
Dr Mann said that while some may assume that hospitals were providing a lower level of care at weekends, the new figures suggest the fall could be down to those falling ill at the weekend needing to be much sicker if they are to be admitted to hospital.
“We know that mortality is higher at weekends,” Dr Mann added. “This shows it could be because a lack of services in the community, which means patients have to be much sicker to get referred to hospital.”
Chief executive of the Patients Association, Katherine Murphy, said a “complete overhaul” was needed for the NHS’ out-of-hours care, which she described as “completely inadequate”.
“People don’t choose when they are going to be ill,” she said. “When a serious illness strikes that requires emergency treatment, it is essential that the NHS is able to provide a 24 hour a day, 7 day a week service. It is simply unacceptable that patients are being offered different standards of care on different days of the week.
“Unless we see proper investment, lives will continue to be put at risk,” she added.
Fiona Tinsley, a Medical Negligence Solicitor at Clear Law, said: “These figures raise big concerns regarding the level of care patients are receiving should they happen to fall ill at the weekend.
“On any given day of the week, patients have a right to expect the highest level of care and be safe in the knowledge that they will be given all they require to get them back to full health as quickly as possible.
“These figures suggest the level of care a patient will receive is essentially a lottery depending on when they fall ill. The correct systems need to be in place to ensure that patients are receiving the same high level of care first thing on a Monday as they do last thing on a Sunday.”