Car crash victims 'more likely to die if they are injured at evenings or weekends' !

Car crash victims and other trauma patients are more likely to die if they are injured at evenings or weekends because of poor care in hospitals, a highly critical report has warned. Just one hospital in the country has a consultant working around the clock in its casualty department. Most work only on weekdays and during the day, despite evidence that patients are less likely to die or become disabled if they are treated by a consultant, the National Audit Office (NAO) report found. Too few patients are being given brain scans or transferred to intensive care units, it also warns. And it found little change in the care of trauma patients in the past 20 years, despite a succession of damning reports. The NAO estimates that hundreds of deaths could be prevented every year if services were better organised. Edward Leigh, chairman of the Commons Public Accounts Committee, said: “If you have an accident at night or over the weekend, you are unlikely to be seen immediately by a consultant, given that only one hospital in the entire country has the required specialist consultant care 24 hours a day, for seven days a week. “This means that your chances of avoiding death or disability can turn on when your accident happens and to which hospital the ambulance takes you.” Trauma patients are those who have suffered serious injuries as a result of accidents like car crashes or falls, or from being assaulted. The report also found wide variation in survival rates from hospital to hospital, while across Britain 20 per cent more trauma patients die in hospital than they do in America. Ministers and hospitals have failed to get to grips with the problem, the watchdog warns. More (AD Suggests ~ A worrying thought, advice is to drive safely to avoid finding out if their report is true.)