When Jeremy Hunt criticises the junior doctors' strike by stating that "you are 20% more likely to die from a stroke at the weekend, he uses data from 2004-12 that is out of date as recedes rapid improvements in stroke care. These include new acute stroke units that reduce mortality and disability by 25%.
Only 5.1% of patients he refers to were cared for on these acute stroke units, compared with 82% in the 2015 national data. Recent audits of stroke outcomes in London show that there is no longer any excess of hospital deaths in patients with stroke admitted at the weekend.
So begins a letter from stroke specialists in today's Sunday Times, devastating Jeremy Hunt's lies. Hunt needs to issue an urgent statement to reassure the public that weekend stroke care is safe. And then resign.
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