Hello, I'm Greg Jenna and good news, Your Dead to Me is back for a new series. Here we go. Yes, we'll explore Emperor Nero's notorious reign with Professor Marybeard and Patton Oswald. I would not want my daughter having the remote control, not alone an empire. We'll dissect the decadent life of Philippe Duke-Dor-Leon with Tom Allen. I've often tried to pretend I'm an aristocrat and being very quickly knocked down. And there'll be so much more with comedians like Olga Koch, Mike Mosniak and Rihalina. I'm excited. You're dead to me, the comedy podcast that takes history seriously. Listen first on BBC Sounds. Hello, thank you for listening to this edition of Inside Health. I hope you enjoy it. Everyone looks forward to the weekend, right?

Well, not if you're unwell and need to be admitted to hospital, thanks to the specter of the so-called weekend effect,

which, if you believe the politicians, means you could be forgiven for thinking you may never come out again.

This week, it's all about

strokes and even the Prime Minister join the fray. I don't want to blind you with statistics,

but if you have a stroke at the weekend, you are 20% more likely to die. And so it is important

to try and build a more seven-day NHS. But strokes are not the only condition implicated in the

weekend effect. They're just the tip of a much larger iceberg, according to Secretary of State for Health, Jeremy Hunt. For England, we are absolutely determined to eliminate the weekend effect, which sees 11,000 excess deaths every year as a result of inadequate cover at weekends and we don't want that to

continue. That was last October and the ensuing debate in the media over the last few months

has only added to public concern, not least because much of it has been muddled and confusing.

So, how valid are these figures and the research that generated them?

It's an important question, because if the weekend effect is that pronounced,

then the public are right to worry and things need to change.

And if weekends are not that dangerous,

then why is the research being used to justify government plans

to alter junior doctors' contracts to make it easier for hospitals to rota more of them at the weekend.

Well, to answer the question, we need to unpick the science behind the effect

in order to clarify what it does and what it doesn't tell us.

And to help us do that, we'll be joined by the editor of the BMJ,

along with the lead author of the Weekend Effect paper and a sceptical surgeon.

But first, inside health, Dr Margaret McCartney's in our Glasgow studio.

Margaret, let's start with the claim that you're 20% more likely to die from a stroke at the weekend.

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