I Just Waited....

[Sqad]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2332362/82-chance-dying-surgery-weekend-Shock-finding-report-NHS-operations.html

I decided to give AB a whole day to comment.........but not one post.

Any criticism of the NHS is ignored or kicked into the "long grass."

[cazzz1975]

Good or bad, a lot of people cannot afford anything more than the NHS, privatisation may create the situation we currently "enjoy" with our utility companies.

[shaneystar2]

Well ,a friend of mine had an operation on a Friday recently for a leaky heart valve .
I'm jolly pleased to inform you that it was a complete success and she's still alive and kicking :)

[jno]

phew, must've been snowing that day and the surgeon wasn't able to rush the operation to fit in a game of golf, shaneystar!

[sandyRoe]

You would think that, of all people, surgeons would be above 'Friday afternoon car' syndrome.

[FredPuli43]

The figures amount to this : admitted on Friday, deaths 8 in a 1,000. Admitted on Monday , deaths 5 in a 1,000. This has been well covered all day on the news here. The figure is statistically significant because it is repeated; it's not much of a consolation that you have only a very small chance of dying , whatever your admission day.

Various reasons have been suggested, including that the patients differ in some way on Fridays (!), but it seems to be a lack of staff , specialists, and full facilities at weekends, the 48 hours after Friday.

[emmie]

nothing new i am afraid, i was told the same by a doctor friend.

[baza]

I think they do a great job whatever the day of the week.

[ToraToraTora]

Most of the world don't have it sqad. Ask an average American. Watch Moore's film sicko, the NHS is far from perfect but it's better than most in the world have.

[factor-fiction]

O understood the main issue is not the work of the consultants- it's the reduced levels of after-care service available over the next couple of days.
I'd be interested to see the statistics behind this though and to see how much bias there could have been (maybe certain types of operations are more likely to be carried out later in the week)

[emmie]

my experiences are well known, many in the NHS need a kick up the derrière and out the door. Notably in NHS trusts, those who get mega salaries for doing diddly squat.

[factor-fiction]

Ah- I was replying to sandyRoe but a few posts sneaked in before mine

[emmie]

it is how many staff are on the wards at weekends, those you would need in any crises of care.

[aelmpvw]

so monday's a good day? wouldn't of been if i'd been a surgeon

[Octavius]

The 'Weekend Effect' is not new and is not limited to the UK. Studies in the US and Canada found identical results a few years back.

[sandyRoe]

Tuesday then. The hands would have stopped shaking by then. :-)
I think I knew that senior people might not be available over the weekend and staff numbers might be reduced.

[emmie]

don't get ill at weekends either, because you will struggle to find an out of hours doctor service, at least one that will be able to see you, without 100 people ahead of you. Nor indeed be ill full stop, because some of the grumps that now pervade our caring NHS could be better used in another profession. I am racking my brains to think which one, xx

[jake-the-peg]

Yep - I know from close experience last year how much you want to avoid being seriously ill at weekends.

Trying to separate surgeons from their golf is tough I guess.

As others have said I don't think this is limited to the UK or even to publicly funded healthcare.

It is a major 'could do better' area though

Perhaps if people start refusing operations on Fridays and Weekends Jeremy Hunt will be forced to do something more important than changing GP out of hours arrangements

[emmie]

found the same in the private sector, the consultant who treated the o/h was a disgrace.

[emmie]

he told the staff in front of us that he wasn't to be disturbed on any account at weekends, not sure how i managed to not to punch him in the face.

[Sqad]

Oh! dear.......just a few facts, some of them, well most of them anecdotal.

This is not a new phenomenon and has been going on for 30 years or more.

Junior consultants by and large are given the end of the week operating spots which they themselves do or leave to the junior staff. The Senior consultants tend to have the early week operating lists.

Do i like publicly funded medicine? No......not like in the UK. Why?
Normally "he who pays the piper calls the tune" but the BMA and consultants are such a strong body, that it is they that dangle the Government and call the shots.

UK doctors are overpaid, thanks to the NHS being politically managed.......the doctors like the pay and freedom, the patients like the thought of not having to pay and have a multitude of entries to the doctor.
The Politicians know this and despite not being able to afford the NHS budget accede to the doctors wishes. The GP's got a good deal and the consultants want similar......no weekend calls. At the weekend the hospitals are managed by inexperienced junior staff, registrars and the occasional consultant and this is the time that operations tend to go wrong.

No Political party is prepared to upset the doctors as it would end in being "outed" at the next election.

The NHS needs massive re-organisation in my opinion.....but this will never happen.....deaths will continue.