NHS bosses have announced they will inspect Grimsby's Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital (DPOW) - where mortality figures are higher than expected - in June.
Experienced teams of doctors, nurses and patient representatives will come to DPOW between Wednesday, June 5 and Friday, June 7, as part of Sir Bruce Keogh's review.
As reported, the former heart surgeon and now medical director of NHS England seeks to find out whether there are any sustained failings in the quality of care and treatment being provided to patients.
From next month Sir Bruce and his medical experts will visit the 14 Trusts whose mortality ratios have shown higher-than-expected rates for the past two years.
Site visits for the first four hospital Trusts will commence between May 7 and 9. A further six hospitals will receive visits over the following four weeks, while the final four will be visited in mid-June.
The date for DPOW's visit comes in the wake of latest mortality figures released across Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (NLAG) – which manages DPOW - by the NHS Information Centre.
It finally shows slight improvements being made but mortality figures overall are still higher than average – this was always to be expected by NHS bosses at the Trust.
Between October 2011 and September 2012, a Summary Hospital-level Mortality Indicator (SHMI) – used to calculate the number of expected deaths during a financial year – show only 1,938 people were expected to die but 2,236 actually did.
Compared to figures released between July 2011 and June 2012, latest results show a reduction in the number of deaths by 50 people.
However management at NLAG say the recent SHMI figures are at least six to 18 months out of date and recent work carried out is having an impact – this is done through a Risk Adjusted Mortality Index (RAMI).
Dr Liz Scott, medical director at NLAG, said: "The latest SHMI figures show our Trust had higher than average mortality ratios for the period October 2011 to September 2012.
"The mortality position is an issue for the whole health community and we continue to work with our commissioners and other health and social care providers to make sure that everything that could contribute to this position is being addressed.
"Our mortality rate improvement programme is having a positive impact, as evidenced by our RAMI figures.
"This mortality measure is more up-to-date than the SHMI and it shows the Trust is making a gradual but significant improvement.
"However this improvement won't be reflected in the SHMI until later this year due to the statistics being retrospective."
The team sanctioned by Sir Bruce as part of his review, will identify:• Whether existing action by these Trusts to improve quality is adequate and whether any additional steps should be taken• Any additional external support that should be made available to these Trusts to help them improve• Any areas that may require regulatory action in order to protect patients
Sir Bruce said: "I am determined that these reviews should be about identifying solutions to any problems that may exist.
"I am interested in not just providing a diagnosis, but helping to write the prescription and provide support to these hospitals to help them improve.
"A higher than expected mortality rate does not in itself tell us that a hospital is unsafe.
"For example, units delivering highly complex and specialist care could legitimately have higher mortality rates.
"It is, however, a warning light that suggests further investigation is necessary.
"It is important that the mortality data warning light – which went unheeded at Mid-Staffordshire Hospitals – is checked in future.
"That is what this review is all about, and the lessons of Mid-Staffordshire will inform all of the NHS's new ways of monitoring hospitals."
Following the visits, the statutory organisations responsible for commissioning, regulating and performance managing the 14 hospitals will hold Risk Summits for each of the hospitals.
These Risk Summits, informed by the reports from the Rapid Responsive Review teams, will consider and agree what additional action may be needed to support further improvement or, if necessary, to protect patients.
A report following each Risk Summit will also be made publicly available.
Sir Bruce added: "Right across England, a new network of quality surveillance groups is now operational, providing additional scrutiny of NHS-funded services and helping to detect problems at an early stage.
"The lessons learned from this review will also help to inform the soon to be established role of Chief Inspector of Hospitals."
