This weekend marks the start of the problem
Mowing the lawn could be dangerous
Anyone planning gardening or DIY this weekend has been warned of a forecast spike in injuries needing hospital treatment. Nine out of ten hospital admissions from gardening and DIY mishaps involve men, with the Easter weekend marking the start of the DIY spike for A&E departments.
For thousands across the country the long Easter weekend gives DIYers and gardeners the opportunity to tackle the big jobs they’ve been putting off.
But whilst many will be giving their lawns a first mow and heading up ladders to fix a dripping gutter, this weekend marks the start of a boom in hospital admissions. In England, DIY and gardening injuries create approximately 8,500 coded hospital admissions annually, with 56% falling between April and September. Nine out of ten of those admitted are male. The age group most affected is 40 to 74.
Codes W27, W28, and W29, covering hand tools, powered lawnmowers, and household machinery, are among the most seasonally consistent in the entire NHS coding system. The lawnmower is the most common culprit.
Joakim Edin, AI researcher at Corti and author of the report, said: “Hospitals across the country are gearing up for a busy weekend. The data shows the first weekend in April marks the start of a five-month-long busy period for A&E departments due to gardening and DIY mishaps. Nine out of ten of those admitted are men. The coding data doesn’t just record what happened last Easter. It tells you what’s about to happen this Easter. Anyone eager to pick up the tools should plan jobs carefully and manage the risk before jumping in.”
The data comes from Struck by a Duck, a new report by healthcare AI lab Corti, which serves 100 million patients annually across health systems including the NHS. The report analyses the most culturally revealing medical codes across the US, UK, Germany, and Scandinavia.
The report also reveals how the same coding system that tracks Easter lawnmower injuries is the one that determines NHS trust funding, shapes public health surveillance, and underpins research data quality. The full “Struck by a Duck” report is available at corti.ai/struck-by-a-duck.
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