• Disrupting Power Since 2015
  • Donate
  • Login
Thursday, May 15, 2025
  • Login
  • Register
Canary
MEDIA THAT DISRUPTS
  • News
    • UK
    • Global
    • Analysis
    • Trending
  • Editorial
  • Features
    • Features
    • Environment
    • Lifestyle
    • Health
    • Money
    • Science
    • Business
    • Tech
    • Travel
    • Sport & Gaming
  • Media
    • Video
    • Cartoons
  • Opinion
No Result
View All Result
MANAGE SUBSCRIPTION
SUPPORT
  • News
    • UK
    • Global
    • Analysis
    • Trending
  • Editorial
  • Features
    • Features
    • Environment
    • Lifestyle
    • Health
    • Money
    • Science
    • Business
    • Tech
    • Travel
    • Sport & Gaming
  • Media
    • Video
    • Cartoons
  • Opinion
No Result
View All Result
Canary
No Result
View All Result

Weekend suicide statistics further weaken Hunt’s case for a 7 day NHS (VIDEO)

Conrad Bower by Conrad Bower
8 July 2016
in Health, Science
Reading Time: 4 mins read
163 9
A A
0
Home Other News & Features Health
319
SHARES
2.5k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Suicide related deaths among mental health patients over the weekend are actually lower than those occuring during weekdays. The new evidence has been found in a revealing study carried out by the University of Manchester. The study was prompted by current government policy that is pushing for a seven day NHS. The results add more weight to growing evidence opposing Jeremy Hunt’s plan to extend weekday coverage by NHS staff to weekends.

The paper published in the *British Journal of Psychiatry also found that the actual incidence of suicide was 12-15% lower at the weekend as compared to weekday figures. It is one of the first studies to investigate whether a weekend effect is present in mental health care.

Head of the study, Professor Nav Kapur of the Manchester Mental Health and Social Care Trust, said:

We wanted to explore a possible weekend effect on patient suicide. We looked at specific groups being treated in hospital or the community who might be particularly vulnerable to changes in care. We actually found a markedly reduced suicide risk at the weekend. We also found a reduced risk in people who were admitted at the weekend.

The study looked at 5,613 deaths by suicide that occurred in England between 2001 and 2013. These deaths happened among three groups of higher risk mental health patients:

  • Hospital inpatients.
  • Patients discharged from psychiatric hosptial (within the past three months).
  • Patients under the care of a crisis resolution home treatment team (CRHT).

All three groups individually were found to experience lower rates of suicide at the weekend compared to any weekday. The 12-15% lower incident rate of suicide includes all three groups in its analysis but does not take into account the day of admission to hospital/care.

However, hospital inpatients were also analysed, seperately, to see whether weekend admission influenced suicide rates among them. The weekend effect here was particularly stark as a 48% drop in suicide deaths was seen among mental health patients admitted at the weekend as compared to weekday admissions.

https://youtu.be/4Rd_yTDGeaE

These second set of results, which compares the day of admission to the number of deaths by suicide, contradicts the findings of the study Jeremy Hunt has used to support a seven day NHS. The study, which saw Hunt criticised for misrepresenting it at the time, showed a slight increase in overall death rates for all admitted patients at the weekend, when compared to weekday admission

Professor Louis Appleby, one of the authors of the Manchester study and Director of the National Confidential Inquiry, said:

We should recognise that extending NHS services could have a number of potential benefits…

However, our study of suicide in high risk patient groups does not support the claim that safety is compromised at weekends, at least in mental health services.

The study did not investigate the mechanisms behind the 12-15% fall in suicide related deaths at the weekend, but the authors of the report did speculate the reasons for it. The lower number of weekend suicides could be because mental health services are more multi-disciplinary and community-based than some other areas of medicine and are less impacted by fewer doctors at the weekend. Also, increased social contact at the weekend between patients and their family and friends is a possible factor.

The authors suggest another reason for the 48% drop. Highly specialised community services are not often available at the weekend, which has led to a relatively low threshold being applied to mental-health patient admissions. This means a higher number of patients, considered as less severely ill, are being admitted at the weekend.

Kapur said of the results:

Although the causes of suicide are varied and complex, we do know from our previous work that the way services are organised and staffed can have an effect. In this case however, our results did not suggest a weekend effect on suicide.

What does this mean for junior doctors and a future seven day NHS?

As junior doctors once again reject the contract that Jeremy Hunt is trying to impose upon them, the Manchester report adds more weight to their cause. The study also highlights that staffing levels are not the only influence on patient deaths, other factors may be involved too.

The study by Kapur is further endorsed by a previous study carried out in Manchester, looking at overall hospital deaths, which found that fewer people die in hospital at the weekend.

So Jeremy Hunt’s insistence that the only thing that can increase safety levels in the NHS is increased staffing at the weekend, now seems even more absurd. It appears ever more likely that his plan for a seven day NHS, without providing extra resources to secure it, is driven by his free market ideology and his desire to privatise the NHS, piece by piece.

 

If you have been affected in any way by the discussion of suicide please contact the Samaritans

* The paper ‘Mental health services, suicide and 7-day working’, will be published in the British Journal of Psychiatry.

Source of story information: AlphaGallileo (unless hyperlinked otherwise)

Featured Image via Youtube screenshot

Share128Tweet80
Previous Post

Damning new evidence reveals how the UK media lied us all the way to war in Iraq

Next Post

Here’s how Saddam Hussein’s regime was born from western power games in Iraq

Next Post
Here’s how Saddam Hussein’s regime was born from western power games in Iraq

Here's how Saddam Hussein's regime was born from western power games in Iraq

Brexit was spurred by inequality but immigration has nothing to do with it

Brexit was spurred by inequality but immigration has nothing to do with it

Ian Hislop just explained perfectly why we need a general election right now (VIDEO)

Ian Hislop just explained perfectly why we need a general election right now (VIDEO)

You might not normally visit Beyoncé’s website, but you should today

You might not normally visit Beyoncé's website, but you should today

Andrea Leadsom tries to mimic the pro-Corbyn movement, with hilarious and cringeworthy results

Andrea Leadsom tries to mimic the pro-Corbyn movement, with hilarious and cringeworthy results

Reform UK has opened a pub and the puns are as bad as you expect them to be
Trending

A Reform UK pub has just opened. Can you think of anything worse?

by HG
15 May 2025
A North Yorkshire sanctuary is giving parrots a second chance Morndyke Parrot Sanctuary
News

A North Yorkshire sanctuary is giving parrots a second chance

by HG
15 May 2025
The British Museum just held an event with the Israeli embassy - and the Met police responded by repressing Palestine protesters
News

British Museum holds event with the Israeli embassy – so Met Police respond by repressing Palestine protesters

by The Canary
14 May 2025
EXPOSED: the public is paying for Keir Starmer's in-laws to live virtually rent-free in London
Analysis

EXPOSED: the public is paying for Keir Starmer’s in-laws to live virtually rent-free in London

by Ed Sykes
14 May 2025
People are coming together on 7 June to oppose Labour's DWP benefit cuts
News

People are coming together on 7 June to oppose Labour’s DWP benefit cuts

by The Canary
14 May 2025
  • Contact
  • About & FAQ
  • Get our Daily News Email
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy

The Canary
PO Box 71199
LONDON
SE20 9EX

Canary Media Ltd – registered in England. Company registration number 09788095.

For guest posting, contact [email protected]

For other enquiries, contact: [email protected]

The Canary is owned and run by independent journalists and volunteers, NOT offshore billionaires.

You can write for us, or support us by making a regular or one-off donation.

© Canary Media Ltd 2024, all rights reserved | Website by Monster | Hosted by Krystal | Privacy Settings

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • UK
    • Global
    • Analysis
    • Trending
  • Editorial
  • Features
    • Features
    • Environment
    • Lifestyle
    • Health
    • Money
    • Science
    • Business
    • Tech
    • Travel
    • Sport & Gaming
  • Media
    • Video
    • Cartoons
  • Opinion

© 2023 Canary - Worker's co-op.

Before you go, have you seen...?

Reform UK has opened a pub and the puns are as bad as you expect them to be
Trending
HG

A Reform UK pub has just opened. Can you think of anything worse?

A North Yorkshire sanctuary is giving parrots a second chance Morndyke Parrot Sanctuary
News
HG

A North Yorkshire sanctuary is giving parrots a second chance

The British Museum just held an event with the Israeli embassy - and the Met police responded by repressing Palestine protesters
News
The Canary

British Museum holds event with the Israeli embassy – so Met Police respond by repressing Palestine protesters

EXPOSED: the public is paying for Keir Starmer's in-laws to live virtually rent-free in London
Analysis
Ed Sykes

EXPOSED: the public is paying for Keir Starmer’s in-laws to live virtually rent-free in London

ADVERTISEMENT
Business
Nathan Spears

When digital isn’t enough: why paper still matters in modern business

Tech
Nathan Spears

How Digital Addictions Are Formed in the Shadow of Large Platforms

Lifestyle
Nathan Spears

Recovery in the Sun: How the Canary Islands are Becoming a Wellness Tourism Hub