No one ever wants to hear that the hospital service that they rely on has higher than expected rates of mortality on multiple measures, but unfortunately that is the case with North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust – which includes the Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle, the birthing centre at Penrith Community Hospital and the West Cumberland Hospital in Whitehaven.
According to the respected and comprehensive Dr Foster Hospital Guide 2011, even though the trust in question has achieved results within the expected range for two mortality measures (deaths in low risk conditions and deaths after surgery), it has posted higher than expected mortality rates for the other two mortality measures included in the guide.
Those two measures are the SHMI and HSMR, which respectively act as a measure on deaths following hospital treatment and a measure of 56 conditions that account for 80% of deaths in hospital. With regards to the SHMI, the North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust received a rate of 112 – many other trusts posted rates of less than 100, so there is clearly a discrepancy here.
For the HSMR, the North Cumbria University Hospitals Trust had a rate of 118, which is again quite a bit higher than many of the other scores that were posted. While reasons for these higher than expected scores are not entirely clear, it seems there is action that needs to be taken so that the trust can achieve mortality rates that are within or below the expected range.
In our experience, hospitals failing to reach the benchmarking standards set by the Dr Foster guide, are unsurprisingly those with a higher than average level of medical negligence claims.
Patients are sure to be watching the hospitals trust closely to see how their results compare once the new Hospital Guide is released.
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