A new report published by Sir Bruce Keogh has identified there were 254 'excess deaths' at northern Lincolnshire hospitals from March 2012 to February this year, with many instances of patients not receiving basic care.
And the rate of improvement within the Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Hospitals Trust will be speeded up, it was suggested today.
Information was released this afternoon at a media briefing on the Keogh review, held at Scunthorpe United's Glanford Park football ground and attended by senior members of the local trust.
Sir Bruce Keogh, medical director of NHS England, published his long-awaited reports into higher than expected mortality rates at 14 NHS trusts across the UK, including the one that runs hospitals in Scunthorpe and Grimsby.
Trust medical director Dr Liz Scott welcomed the report.
She said: "The Keogh team have been fair in highlighting examples of good practice, as well as improvements that need to be made.
"There is still more work to do but we are confident we will continue to bring our mortality ratios down further."
A key concern within the report identified that within Grimsby hospital there is lack of effective clinical leadership and inadequate involvement of medical staff in redesigning services to address the high mortality levels.
Trust chief executive Karen Jackson felt there were no surprises in the final report.
She said: "It reinforces what we already know and are working on, and reassures us that we are addressing the right issues.
"The majority of the recommended actions are already being implemented.
"However, we need to make more progress, faster."
She added: "Patient safety and quality of care is always our top priority.
"People can be re-assured that we are committing to putting our patients, their safety and wellbeing at the very heart of everything we do."
The purpose of the Keogh review was "to help those trusts identified as having a higher than average mortality ratio on their journey of improvement."A hospital's mortality ratio is calculated by counting the number of actual deaths in a trust and comparing it with the number of expected deaths. The difference between the expected number of deaths and the observed number is often called 'excess deaths'.WORKFORCE AND SAFETY
The Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Hospitals Trust was 'red rated' in a number of areas.
For so-called hospital super bug MRSA, the trust had the 33rd highest rate of infection of 143 UK trusts from 2010 to 2012.
The trust had above average levels of new pressure ulcers throughout the last 12 months.
There was a high level of vacancies for medical staff, and the sickness absence rates for medical staff, nursing staff and others are higher than the national average.
The turnover rate of staff is also higher than the average for the Yorkshire and Humber region.POOR CARE AND PATIENT EXPERIENCE IN SOME AREAS
Patient stories highlighted significant weaknesses in communication with patients and families and many instances of patients not receiving basic care. In some cases, patients were not provided with adequate hydration and nutrition, including food, that met medical needs.SEEKING TO REASSURE THE PUBLICDr Peter Melton, accountable officer for North East Lincolnshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG): "The people of northern Lincolnshire should have high quality health services that compare with the very best in the country and following the CCGs' previous report into mortality rates in Northern Lincolnshire a lot of work has been done by everyone concerned to improve the quality of care."Karen Rhodes, senior officer for quality and assurance/senior nurse for North Lincolnshire Clinical Commissioning Group: "A lot of work has already been done to improve services and all healthcare organisations will continue to make this a priority."
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