Among the statistical sins of England’s health secretary, it was summarised and rebutted this week, we might soon have to include an assertion by Hunt that patients will die if junior doctors strike. But an Analysis article this week indicates otherwise. A systematic look at studies have been done for reporting mortality data from doctors strikes’ around the world . Of the six studies from developed countries, none showed an increase in mortality.
Indeed, in two cases mortality fell during strikes. The authors conclude that, given this evidence, and provided that emergency care is available, doctors’ strikes do not put the safety of patients at risk. This is reassuring, as are assurances from the BMA and the General Medical Council that (and who could doubt it) doctors will respond in the event of a major incident. But a strike is still something most doctors would greatly prefer to…
