Emergency medicine admissions over the weekend comment

02 Aug 2013

Dr Frank Dunn, President of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow comments on a study published in the Emergency Medicine Journal (23 January 2013) entitled "Emergency medicine, deaths at weekends and the public holiday effect".

"This is an important study which provides evidence of a poorer outcome for patients admitted as medical emergencies over long weekends and extends what has been previously known in this area."

"There are a number of explanations for this including the cumulative effect of diminished numbers of staff and services on public holiday weekends."

"This study underscores the need to put in place a consistent standard of care which is of the highest quality throughout the working week, at weekends and on public holidays."

"This is being addressed by the Academy of Royal Colleges in regard to consultants but there are additional issues in regard to trainees, allied health staff and the availability of key services."

Contact: media@rcpsg.ac.uk
0141 221 6072

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