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Jeremy Hunt can attack me all he wants – but he is wrong to say the NHS is working | Stephen Hawking "Hunt doesn't deny

Jeremy Hunt can attack me all he wants – but he is wrong to say the NHS is working | Stephen Hawking

"Hunt doesn't deny that he dismissed research contradicting his claim of excess deaths due to poorer hospital care and staffing at the weekend. He admits he relied on one paper by Professor Nick Freemantle and colleagues. But even if one accepts its disputed findings, the authors explicitly warn that "to assume these excess deaths are avoidable would be rash and misleading". The editor-in-chief of the British Medical Journal, Fiona Godlee, wrote to Hunt to reprimand him for publicly misrepresenting the Freemantle et al paper. As a patient who has spent a lot of time in hospital, I would welcome improved services at the weekend. For this, we need a scientific assessment of the benefits of a seven-day service and of the resources required, not misrepresentation of research."

Source: www.theguardian.com

hunt freemantle excess weekend deaths paper hospital editor-in-chief