A new research study reveals that babies born in hospitals at the weekends have a greater chance of dying than those born on weekdays, Tech Times reports.
The team from Imperial College that conducted the study concluded that weekend born babies have a significantly greater chance of dying than those coming out on weekdays. The study looked at the numbers of stillbirths or deaths within seven days in hospital from 2010 to 2012.
The study covered over 1.3 million births in England.
The study was published Nov. 24 in the British Medical Journal.
The researchers noted that there were over seven deaths for every 1,000 babies delivered at weekends in Britain, compared to the 6.5 deaths for the same number of births on weekdays.
The researchers said that the difference was significant, raising concerns on the care provided at hospitals at weekends.
According to lead researcher Professor Will Palmer, the higher death rate of infants born at weekends and frequency of problems at weekends was "concerning,".
However, the research team said that they could not identify the root cause and that more data was necessary for further research.
According to BBC, a spokeswoman for NHS England said: "Most mums say they get excellent NHS maternity care, but for a small number of families that is not the case and it's vital that we take every step to continuously improve quality and safety.
"We have commissioned a wider independent review of NHS maternity services, which will assess how best we can respond to England's growing birth rate and the need for well-staffed and safe services that give mums more say over their care."
Health minister Ben Gummer reacted to the latest study and said they are "determined" to handle the matter with care to ensure that all mothers and babies receive optimum care 24/7.
Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists president Dr. David Richmond that even though no definite answers could be derived from the study but, "... they emphasize the need to identify the possible causes in order to ensure that women are receiving high-quality care at any given day of the week".
