Dying for the Weekend

A study led by William Palmer on worse access to treatments, and poorer outcomes, for stroke patients admitted at the weekend.

A study led by William Palmer on worse access to treatments, and poorer outcomes, for stroke patients admitted at the weekend appeared on the front page of the Telegraph and on Radio 4.

The paper confirmed previous international studies which suggested a deficiency in the outcomes of patients admitted at weekends but extended the existing analysis by providing explanations for why this might be happening, including access to specialist staff and urgent treatments. He hopes that the results will help accelerate the shift towards providing a more consistent level of NHS care to emergency patients across all days of the week.

The paper was also widely covered in the US with Reuters and ABC news featuring it. It was was the featured article of the week in Archives of Neurology.

William is a part-time PhD student based at the Dr Foster Unit, and his research focuses on the feasibility of using administrative data to evaluate the quality and safety of hospital care