ProNurse

By Laura Donnelly, Patrick Sawer and Alastair Jamieson

The three hospitals with the highest patient death rates in the country can be named today, amid a deepening crisis over the standard of care in the NHS.

Basildon, Bolton and Greater Manchester NHS trusts have elite “foundation status”. However, The Sunday Telegraph has learned that statistics to be published this week will show a higher percentage of patients died while in their care in 2008-09 than in any other trusts in the country.

With the average mortality rate set at a score of 100, Basildon scored 131, Royal Bolton 122 and Tameside in Greater Manchester 119.

The disclosure casts further doubt on Labour’s flagship foundation hospitals’ policy, which has been under attack since appalling standards of care at Mid Staffordshire Hospital were exposed in March.

Patients’ groups demanded that ministers carry out a “total overhaul” of the system, which they said was “failing” patients. Investigations by this paper have found* Eight foundation hospitals are failing so badly that they have breached the terms of their licence to operate and are being placed under close supervision by the NHS watchdog, Monitor.

* Alder Hey, the leading children’s hospital, has been issued with a “warning notice” for breaching basic infection standards and putting vulnerable young patients at risk of killer infections – two weeks after the trust declared itself “the best in the country”.

* Three ambulance services have been issued with the same notices after failing to decontaminate equipment properly, or provide clean services for high-risk patients.

* Bosses of foundation trusts with high death rates have awarded themselves bumper pay rises. Chief executives at the eight foundation trusts with the highest death rates in 2007-08 had average salary rises of 15 per cent when their institutions took on the coveted status.

The disclosure that Basildon has the worst patient death rate in the country, according to the health care information analysts Dr Foster, after a scathing report published last week by inspectors who found “blood-spattered” walls and filthy conditions at the hospital.

Dr Foster’s research also found that 5,024 people had died after being admitted to NHS hospitals with a “low-risk” condition, such as appendicitis or asthma. Of those, 848 were aged under 65.

Hospitals were also rated for overall patient care. Again, Basildon came off worst; followed by Scarborough and North East Yorkshire and

Lewisham Hospital trust, in South London, respectively.

Katherine Murphy, from the Patients Association, said the foundation hospital system had reached crisis point. “Foundation hospitals claim to be in a premier league, but yet more evidence is coming out that many of them are failing their patients,” she said.

There are also question marks over the way ratings given to hospitals rely on their own assessment of their performance. At Basildon Hospital, managers gave themselves 13 out of a 14 possible marks for safety and cleanliness. The ratings were published weeks before the damning inspection report was drawn up.

At Alder Hey, managers awarded themselves the maximum score for cleanliness. When its self-assessments were added up, it was awarded an overall rating of “excellent” for its services.

On October 15, the hospital sent out a press release, titled “best in class, best in country”, describing how it had achieved the most successful result of any children’s hospital.

Twelve days later, when inspectors from regulators the Care Quality Commission (CQC) arrived unannounced, they found filthy conditions, with brown running water, mouldy bathrooms and soiled furniture and commodes. Toys were stored on top of equipment to clean bedpans.

The inspectors also found that trays used to carry sterile equipment were dirty. Domestic staff said the parts of the wards they could not reach were cleaned just once a year, by outside contractors. The hospital was told it was failing to protect patients from infections, and was ordered to make urgent changes.

Andrew Lansley, the shadow health secretary said: “We have to move away from the flawed system of self-assessment to one where inspectors really understand what is going on in our hospitals.”

Dr Steve Ryan, the medical director at Alder Hey, said the trust apologised for the failings found by CQC during its inspection, but insisted that the faults were not typical of the hospital.

Ambulance services in the North East, East of England, and East Midlands have all been issued with warnings by the CQC about basic hygiene.

The regulator for foundation trusts, Monitor, is scrutinising eight trusts that are failing to meet basic standards.

The Sunday Telegraph’s Heal Our Hospitals campaign is seeking an independent inquiry into the supervision of NHS hospitals, as well as the routine publication of mortality rates for hospitals. It is also calling for a review of the system of health care targets.

© 2009 Sunday Telegraph, The; London (UK). Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.

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