Tameside Hospital, one of eleven NHS Trusts ordered to undergo the ‘improvement’ process in July 2013 by NHS England medical director Sir Bruce Keogh, has seen its mortality rates increase.

The hospital has been singled out in a report released today by the Dr Foster organisation which has reviewed mortality rates at the eleven.

The hospital was placed into ‘special measures’ following the conclusion of the public inquiry into standards of care at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust and is still operating under those measures.

Dr Foster found that across the eleven, ‘Special measures’ has been effective in reducing mortality rates and there had been a significant shift in the pattern of mortality rates following the intervention.

However for Tameside, it had rising mortality rates both before and after the intervention.

High mortality rates had been one of the signals that had raised concerns about the problems at Mid Staffordshire. Other NHS acute trusts including Tameside, were known to also have high mortality rates, raising concerns that there may be problems with quality of care in those hospitals also.

The Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Health asked Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, the NHS National Medical Director, to investigate the care at hospitals with the highest mortality rates and to check that urgent remedial action was being taken. He identified 14 trusts (nine NHS foundation trusts and five NHS trusts) that had high mortality rates to be inspected.

Roger Taylor, director of research at the Dr Foster group, said it was almost certain hundreds of lives had been saved because of the interventions.

Commenting on the report, A Tameside Trust spokesman said:

“Initially we focused our attention on understanding and improving the care and treatment given to our patients. We now have a fully embedded mortality review process, where all deaths are comprehensively reviewed. We are now clearer on the data quality issues which require further action.”

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