A study revealed that patients brought to the hospital during the weekend have more than 27 percent possibility of dying compared to those brought during regular days of the week.

The study, which involved 146 acute hospital trusts in the U.K, showed that 129 of them recorded a higher mortality rate among hospital patients admitted on Saturdays and Sundays.

Somehow, the patients’ poor survival record was associated to factors such as the decreased presence of senior staff on duty and the unavailability of machines for diagnostic testing such as scans.

Last month, the NHS England released a report stating that 4,400 lives can actually be saved in one year as long as the level of death risk on the wards remain somewhat the same all throughout the week. This number was revealed to support the call for the NHS to provide a supermarket-style service in which the hospital will have the same operation regardless of the day in the week.

Sir Bruce Keogh, medical director of NHS, further expressed that patients, just like shoppers, should get the same quality of medical service every day of the week. For him, it’s no longer standard that hospitals persist to operate at their own staff’s convenience while sacrificing the patient’s condition. He also added that clinics, surgical operations, and scans should be equally available all throughout the week.

Sir Bruce argues that if medical consultants would be willing to add more working hours during the weekend, there will be a bigger chance that patients would be discharged sooner thereby enabling them to save more money. However, leaders in the medical industry had viewed his proposals as totally futile and out of the question.

The British Medical Association said that Sir Bruce’ comparison of the health service to the service given in supermarket has no valid reasons. Moreover, the proposal to have similar opening hours is deemed by the association as a recommendation that is outside the allowed resources.