Hospital care at weekends a concern

The level of care available to patients admitted to hospitals at weekends is among a number of concerns raised by a mother whose son died in hospital on a Sunday without being seen by a consultant.

Although a catalogue of care failures meant 21-year-old Kevin Murphy’s health was already severely compromised by the time he was hospitalised, his mother Margaret questioned if the outcome would have been different had he been admitted during the week.

“Because it was a weekend, he was managed at registrar level. Is it good that the standard of care at the weekends might not be the same as Monday to Friday? The impact of a weekend admission seemed to be ‘Please stay alive until Monday’,” she said.