Five NHS trusts show high death rates

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/jan/24/five-nhs-trusts-high-death-rates

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Five hospital trusts in England are revealed by official government figures to have more deaths than would be expected for the sort of population they serve.

Data collected over two years, July 2010 to June 2012, by the health and social care information centre suggests that mortality rates were higher than expected at the Colchester Hospital University, Tameside Hospital, Blackpool Teaching Hospitals, Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals, and East Lancashire Hospitals NHS trusts.

The centre does not explore why the five should apparently be doing worse than the rest of the country, although it says they had a higher proportion of patients classed as from the most deprived areas.

"As always with such a complex area, this mortality indicator should be seen as an early warning mechanism, rather than a definitive judgment, to examine the reasons why a trust's ratio is higher or lower than expected," said the centre's chief executive, Tim Straughan, who added that most trusts had expected or lower than expected deaths.

The new summary hospital-level mortality indicator (SHMI) rate has been calculated by comparing the number of patients who die at a trust's hospitals – and for the first time including those who die within 30 days of discharge – with the number who would be expected to die, given the sort of population it serves. Important factors will include whether the population is especially elderly and whether the area is deprived and likely to have more people in poor health.

Eleven trusts did particularly well, scoring fewer than expected deaths for the population. These were James Paget University Hospitals, Cambridge University Hospitals, Kingston Hospital, and several in London: Royal Free, St George's, the Whittington, Chelsea and Westminster, University College, North West London, Imperial College, and Barnet and Chase Farm.

Colchester said its deaths were falling year on year and were within the "acceptable range" according to Dr Foster, which did not take into account deaths 30 days after leaving hospital. It had agreed a "Joint Mortality Action Plan" with local commissioners.

Blackpool said it had "historically had high mortality figures" and had undertaken extensive work to find out why. Dr Mark O'Donnell, medical director, said the figures had come down, adding: "We are committed to improving the outcomes for patients and the safety of our services."

Tariq Mahmood, medical director of the Tameside Hospital NHS foundation trust, said they took the issue very seriously. High local deprivation rates and the number of patients who were terminally ill in hospital were behind the high mortality figure, he said.

Rineke Schram, medical director at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS trust, said: "The population of east Lancashire has some of the poorest health and deprivation indices in the country and it is these indices that are not taken into account when the mortality ratio is calculated."