Health bosses have admitted they are concerned after it emerged more people than expected are dying at Tees hospitals.
North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust had 253 more deaths than expected over a 12-month period, figures released this week show.
The trust - which covers the University Hospital of North Tees and the University Hospital of Hartlepool - was one of nine nationwide flagged by health watchdogs for having a higher-than predicted death rate. There were 1,837 deaths either in the two hospitals, or within 30 days of discharge from one of them. Watchdogs had expected 1,584.
Cath Siddle, North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust’s director of nursing, patient safety and quality, admmitted the figures were a “concern”.
She explained that while overall death rates are falling, but when adjusted for social and medical factors, the rate begins to rise.
“We are working in a number of areas to understand why this is, and our senior doctors, nurses and managers are taking a particularly close look at the care of people with pneumonia to ensure that the best and most appropriate care is given,” she said.
Ms Siddle also noted the trust’s rates can be skewed because of the way it provides emergency medical care through a special unit called the ambulatory care unit.
In North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust, patients who are sent to hospital with a medical problem by their GP are often assessed, diagnosed and observed in this unit but they do not need to stay in hospital.
Ms Siddle added: “Around 20% of our emergency medical patients are looked after in this way and this is well over the numbers for comparable trusts.
“Because of the way the mortality calculations are done this can result in our mortality rates being reported as higher than they actually are.”
The figures released by the Health and Social Care Information Centre, which monitors hospital performance, cover the 12 months up to the end of March this year. The other trusts flagged up for higher-than-expected rates included Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Medway NHS Foundation Trust, Wye Valley NHS Trust, Aintree University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, South Tyneside NHS Foundation Trust, Tameside Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Southport and Ormskirk Hospitals NHS Trust, and East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust.
Meanwhile, neighbouring South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust had 2,599 deaths compared to 2,566 that were expected, which falls within normal limits.
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