Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to his Department's response to e-petition No. 104334, what the evidential basis is of the statement that (a) if you are admitted to hospital on a weekend, you have 16 per cent. greater chance of dying and (b) the average earnings for a hospital consultant are £118,000.

The 16% figure is taken from a study published in 2012 in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine entitled ‘Weekend hospitalization and additional risk of death: an analysis of inpatient data’ by Freemantle et al. The authors analysed all hospital admissions in 2009-10 and found that patients admitted to hospital on a Saturday had a 11% increased chance of dying compared to a Wednesday, and patients admitted on a Sunday had a 16% increased chance of dying compared to a Wednesday.

This analysis has recently been updated by the study’s authors to look at 2013-14 admissions. The latest study, published in the British Medical Journal in September 2015, found that patients admitted to hospital on a Saturday had a 10% increased chance of dying compared to a Wednesday, and patients admitted on a Sunday had a 15% increased chance of dying compared to a Wednesday.

The figure of average hospital consultant earnings is an estimate of the derived average earnings of consultants per full time equivalent, and is based on data covering the 2013/14 financial year. The figure was published as part of evidence submitted by the NHS Employers organisation to the Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists Remuneration ahead of their report published in July, ‘Contract reform for consultants and doctors and dentists in training – supporting healthcare services seven days a week’. The evidence is publicly available here:

http://www.nhsemployers.org/your-workforce/pay-and-reward/pay/medical-pay/ddrb-evidence---in-detail