If there was ever a bad time to end up in hospital, today – Black Wednesday – is it. The first Wednesday of August is changeover day in NHS hospitals. A fresh-faced cohort of junior doctors arrive on the wards ready to get their hands dirty. It’s also the day that just about every trainee doctor moves jobs.
The result can be chaotic, as teams of medics scatter and new ones arrive. Doctors who had become used to working alongside one another not only need to adjust to new teammates, but also navigate unfamiliar wards, or even relocate to entirely different hospitals altogether. It’s no wonder that patient care can take a knock.
This isn’t an issue isolated to the NHS
The Dr Foster Intelligence study first gave validation to the rumours that something was awry. The 2009 report found there was a six to eight per cent rise in patient deaths during the first week of August compared to the previous week at the end of July.
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