billy_bob
Air of bewilderment model's own
It's actually largely because they try and send the better patients home before the weekend. I've been in for a spell before now and gone home for the weekend & come back in the following week, because they were happy that there would be someone to look after me at home and no point me being there if the specialists weren't going to be doing their rounds. The patients that stay in over the weekend tend to be in a pretty bad way, are more likely to die and hence the higher mortality statistics. It's really basic stuff, and representing it as anything else is wilfully dishonest.
You lost Jeremy Hunt at 'actually'.
It's also because people tend to only go to hospital on a weekend if they're properly ill, isn't it?