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Dear John, This article is describing government response to analyses which have been published a number of times. The author is Paul Aylin of DrFosters and Imperial College. The journalist should have said what the sources are, but it may be based on a Department of Health press release which didn't mention the source of the figures. Alison ________________________________ From: John Bibby <[log in to unmask]> Sent: 14 December 2013 18:37 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Bad Journo?: "12% higher risk of dying because ...." (Weekend A&E) In Today's Guardian<http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/dec/13/nhs-plan-weekend-admissions-safer-patients> Denis Campbell reports that "seriously ill patients admitted at weekends are at a 12% higher risk of dying than weekday arrivals because they often are treated by more junior medical staff and have to wait for crucial diagnostic tests." Should we report this to the "Bad Journo" watchdog? It seems to have at least three "Bad Journo" characteristics: 1. It gives no indication of what the level of risk is. (A one-in-a-million risk is still very small even if increased by 12%, a one-in-ten risk less so. We need to know the true value.) 2. The "because ...." bit suggests clear causation. Now call me a sceptic, but I don't believe that Campbell has clear evidence of causation. (While (1) is merely a sin of omission, this is more clearly a sin of commission.) 3. There is no indication of where the 12% figure comes from. Did Campbell make it up? I doubt it, but he really should provide the link - at least on the Grauniad website, even if not in the printed version. Is anyone with me on this? Do we need a "Bad Journo" campaign to obliterate things like this? JOHN BIBBY PS: I wanted to copy this to the author, but can't find his email address. His Twitter account is @Denis_Campbell - does anyone know how to retweet this email to him please? Quite apart from where the data is (I guess it is out there somewhere - can anyone help me on this, please), this seems to me to have at least two of the You may leave the list at any time by sending the command SIGNOFF allstat to [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>, leaving the subject line blank. You may leave the list at any time by sending the command SIGNOFF allstat to [log in to unmask], leaving the subject line blank.