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Weekend Births At Greater Death Risk - Study

Weekend Births At Greater Death Risk - Study

Babies who are born in NHS hospitals on weekends are more likely to be stillborn or die within seven days than those born between Monday and Friday, according to research.

A study of 1.3 million births in England over two years up to March 2012 found the death rate among babies was 7.3 per 1,000 babies delivered at weekends - 0.9 per 1,000 higher than for babies born during the week.

Scientists at Imperial College in London, who did the research, estimate the inconsistent performance means 770 more babies die every year and 470 more mothers have infections than if obstetrics care was the same over seven days.

Researchers said: "Moreover, the results also suggest increases in the rates of other complications for both women admitted and babies born at weekends, with higher rates of puerperal infection (infection following childbirth), injury to neonate, and three-day neonatal emergency readmissions."

That means more babies born over the weekend are more likely to be readmitted to hospital for emergency care.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who is embroiled in a row with junior doctors over pay and working hours at the weekend, is arguing that there should be more doctors and consultants on duty during the weekends.

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A study published in September revealed around 11,000 more people died every year within 30 days of admission to hospital on Friday, Saturday, Sunday or Monday compared with other days of the week.

However, the researchers of that study said, although the higher death rates could be connected with a lack of consultant cover and "reduced" services, it would be "rash and misleading" to conclude that an exact number of deaths could have been avoided.

Dr David Richmond, president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG), said: "Although no definitive conclusions can be drawn from these results, they emphasise the need to identify the possible causes in order to ensure that women are receiving high-quality care at any given day of the week.

"The UK is a safe place for women to give birth, however pressure on maternity services is growing as women are having more complex pregnancies due to the rise in older mothers and maternal obesity."

He added: "More robust evidence on the quality of care afforded by different models of labour ward staffing is also required."

Andrew Whitelaw, emeritus professor of neonatal medicine at the University of Bristol, said key data for up to 10% of babies was missing from the study, including on weight and twin births.

He added: "While elective Caesarean has its downsides, it virtually eliminates the risk of critical lack of oxygen to the foetus and of physical trauma, which are possible with spontaneous labour.

"I cannot see that the authors' sophisticated statistical analysis has allowed for this big contribution of low risk babies during weekdays.

"While a comparison of weekends versus weekdays does show a statistically significant difference, the figure shows the highest perinatal mortality for an individual day was on Thursday not Saturday or Sunday."

The findings were published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ).