Hunt Effect

This article is about the effect in healthcare. For the effect in colour appearance, see Hunt effect (colour)

The Hunt Effect refers to patients who have been deterred from seeking medical help at weekends because of statements by Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP, Secretary of State for Health, about the safety of UK hospitals at weekends.[1][2][3] It may now more broadly refer to inadvertent harms caused to patients by misstatements about the quality of healthcare.

Overview

In July 2015, Mr Hunt stated in a speech that “about 6,000 people lose their lives every year because we do not have a proper seven-day service in hospitals”[4] A subsequent poll of 2,002 UK adults on 13–15 October 2015, conducted on behalf of the Observer newspaper, "found 50% of all adults surveyed thought weekend admissions were more dangerous".[1]

Newspapers subsequently reported that doctors had identified patients who were delaying their presentation to hospital, with adverse consequences on their health, citing Mr Hunt's remarks as the reason.[2][3]

In October 2015, two studies (one clinical, one epidemiological) were published that revealed evidence of harm attributed by the authors to claims that healthcare in British hospitals is worse at weekends.[5] As voluntarily reported surveys, it is likely that these cases were under-reported and that the studies were limited by type 2 error.

See also

Weekend effect

References

  1. 1 2 Zeffman, Henry. "Half of Britons believe weekend hospital admissions 'more dangerous'", The Guardian, London, 17 October 2015. Retrieved on 18 October 2015.
  2. 1 2 Weaver, Matthew and Campbell, Denis. "The Hunt file: doctors' dossier of patients 'put at risk' by health secretary", The Guardian, London, 7 October 2015. Retrieved on 18 October 2015.
  3. 1 2 Nagesh, Ashitha. "A woman actually went blind ‘because of Jeremy Hunt’s NHS claims’", The Metro, London, 9 October 2015. Retrieved on 18 October 2015.
  4. ↑ Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State for Health (16 July 2015). "Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)". House of Commons. 16 July 2015. col. 1101.
  5. ↑ Gan HW and Kanaris C (2015). Results of the Hunt effect surveys in response to “Increased mortality associated with weekend hospital admission: a case for expanded seven day services?”. BMJ 351:h4596. "doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.h4596"
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