Sir Bruce Keogh announces final list of outliers
On 6 February, in response to a request from the Prime Minister, Sir Bruce Keogh (the Medical Director) announced an investigation into hospitals that are persistent outliers on mortality indicators. Sir Bruce identified an initial list of five organisations that had been outliers for two years on the Summary Hospital-level Mortality Indicator (SHMI), and said that he would announce further hospitals shortly. The first five hospital Trusts confirmed are:
- Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust
- Tameside Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
- Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust
Today, Sir Bruce is announcing the final list of hospitals that will be looked at as part of his investigation. These are the following nine organisations that have been outliers for two years on the Hospital Standardised Mortality Ratio (HSMR):
- North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust
- United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust
- George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust
- Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust
- Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust
- Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- Medway NHS Foundation Trust
- Burton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Sir Bruce said: “These hospitals are already working closely with a range of regulators. If there were concerns that services were unsafe the regulators should have intervened.”
“The purpose of my investigation is to assure patients, public and Parliament that these hospitals understand why they have a high mortality and have all the support they need to improve. This will be a thorough and rigorous process, involving patients, clinicians, regulators and local organisations.”
Review into the quality of care and treatment provided by 14 hospital trusts in England – Terms of Reference
(this document is no longer available here but can be found on the National Archives website)
If you want to submit any information or raise any concerns you may have about any of the 14 hospital trusts covered by this review you can do so on the NHS Choices website.
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29 comments
I would like to draw the attention of the inspection team to the case of my 41 year old sister Katharine Jones who died 16 months ago after being seen in Colchester A&E, refused a transfer to Basildon, transferred to Broomfield and then back again to Colchester where she died. This all happened within the space of 2 days. At the time of her death Doctors and staff at both Colchester and Broomfield admitted that there had been numerous errors in her care. Both hospitals conducted SUI reports which they subsequently agreed were inadequate in getting to the root of the many issues raised by her case, and as a result of our interventions her treatment is now the subject of an independent enquiry by Mr John Pickles.
It is vital that the inspection team are made aware of what happened to Katharine and of the findings of the independent enquiry which I believe will be completed within the next month. We the family believe what happened to her raises numerous serious issues about both the individual hospitals involved and also crucially the relationships and communications between them. My sister was a nurse who had trained at Colchester hospital. Holly Jones
I emailed the DoH stating I wished to state the case of my late father to the investigation and I have received back a link to this site. I assume I need to keep referring back to this site to find out how and when etc
west cumberland hospital whitehaven paperwork not being done 13 fall one ward alone in under 2 yr all head injury patterdale ward patient placed back in bed after fall later found totally unresponsive in coma no scan done after fall in hospital till after he was found like this and several hours before even being sent miles away to specialist hosp needless to say he never made it
My husband ken smith died as result on a care assistant not acting on his low blood pressure.I would like to give information to this investigation .how do I go about it.
Dorothy Smith
“Patient and public participation. Patients and members of the public will play a central role in the overall review and the individual investigations, working in partnership with clinicians. The views of patients in each of the 14 hospitals, either directly or through representatives, will be sought by the teams and reflected in their reports. Further details will be set out shortly as to how patients and members of the public will be able to feed information and concerns into the investigation (by email, letter or phone).” I believe patients and the public would appreciate information on how they could become involved, if they are to play a central role it is important they are made aware of the investigation outside of the website, how do you propose to engage patients and the public to achieve as fully participation as possible in the investigations?
Having followed the debate and findings of recent reviews I am today shocked by the report that patients who are deemed to have died from Septicemia are not taken into account in a hospitals mortality figures,and in many trusts this cause of death is well above normal or acceptable!Having had first hand experience of this when my Mother went into hospital with a broken ankle and died 3 months later with chronic Septicemia I must wonder what the hell is going on. I think the countries perception of the NHS is quickly changing as reality finally makes us realise that its just another corporation like the Banks,how sad but inevitable i guess.
This announcement dated 11 Feb 2013 makes it look like this is the final list of nine and omits the five originaly named outliers. This is somewhat misleading and it would be more useful to list the full 14.
Hi
Thank you for your comment. I’ve added the initial list of five organisations to the article above so it now lists the full 14.
Kind regards
Simon
Digital Communications Officer
NHS Commissioning Board
I thought that Colchester Hopital was to be investigated
Hi Ian
Thank you for your comment. Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust is in the initial list of five hospitals to be covered by the investigation.
Kind regards
Simon
Digital Communications officer
NHS Commissioning Board
I would like to provide information, how do I do this?
Hi Susan
Thank you for your comment. Patients and members of the public will play a central role in the overall review and the individual investigations, working in partnership with clinicians. The views of patients in each of the 14 hospitals, either directly or through representatives, will be sought by the teams and reflected in their reports.
Further details will be set out shortly on this website as to how patients and members of the public will be able to feed information and concerns into the investigation (by email, letter or phone).
Kind regards
Simon
Digital Communications Officer
NHS Commissioning Board
kingsmill hospital . sister died aged 42 dec 2012 blood poisoning . i know they made mistakes then and also 2003 made mistakes with my mum died aged 63 . my friend was discharged a few weeks ago and collaped at entrance due to them nearly died and now has medical emphasema . on his ward a patient died and left there for 7 hours before removing him . to much more to mention.
My father spent three weeks in Basildon hospital before he was discharged. Prior to discharge a doctor queried why my father’s medicate had been reduced and as far as we could establish the doctors concerns were never addressed.
Three days after discharge my father became unwell, an ambulance was called and returned him to Basildon A&E. After two days in intensive care my father was admitted to a ward where he died – six days after initial discharge with reduced medication.
On the basis of what is now known, my sister and I trust the present investigation will provide answers.
I note that the Chief Executive of one of these organizations used to be Chief Executive of another of them. Is this coincidence? It’s my belief that the quality of care in parts of the NHS has been badly damaged by the pursuit of ‘targets’ & the pressure, from senior management, to achieve these has been at the expense of the ability of front line staff to deliver good, sensible, care. Unfortunately, the targets have also been ‘bent’, by the same people, to achieve the same ends so that they haven’t even achieved their original purpose.
If Sir Bruce Keogh wants to know about Lincolnshire NHS Trust (Pilgrim Hospital) from a “patients” point of view – he should contact me – I’ve got some experiences from bottom to top – but he won’t!
Patients and their families have lots of information which could be very helpful to Sir Bruce and his investigation of each hospital authority. Sir Bruce and his team need to make public a contact address or contact point so that people can provide details of their experiences so that lessons can be learned and the investigators can identify where the problems are in these hospitals.
Could not agree more. After being ‘ written off” in the A&E ward at the Pilgrim Hospital in Boston I managed to escape!! Lately, I have searched for a contact number for these ‘investigators,’ without success. My tale would be of incompetence and misdiagnosis.
I suspect that Sir Bruce and his team do not publish contact numbers because they are well aware that, within a short time, they would be inundated with genuine grievances!
Tameside did this with my father in 2009. He died in Stepping hill hospital two weeks after Tameside had discharged him. Stepping hill admitted him as an emergency.
My Godmother died in the Cumberland Infirmary in March 2011, after repeated misdiagnosis of previously treated gastric problems, so that she was severely malnourished by the time she was finally admitted (eventually, calling an ambulance was the only way to get her the hospitalisation she so clearly needed). Although this problem was eventually treated successfully, she then fell on the ward while walking unaided to the bathroom (in her late 70’s , severely weakened post surgery , how was this allowed to happen?). She broke a rib in the fall and died within a few days from “complications” . I still do not understand how this could have happened, she had no family still living, I feel she was neglected throughout. I hope this investigation has some answers for us.
I would like to know how to make a comment to add to the investigation into one of these hospitals. My experience was awful.
How do I comment?
Hi
Thank you for your comment. Patients and members of the public will play a central role in the overall review and the individual investigations, working in partnership with clinicians. The views of patients in each of the 14 hospitals, either directly or through representatives, will be sought by the teams and reflected in their reports.
Further details will be set out shortly on this website as to how patients and members of the public will be able to feed information and concerns into the investigation (by email, letter or phone).
Kind regards
Simon
Digital Communications Officer
NHS Commissioning Board
It’s now 21st Feb. Can you please update on when the process for submitting evidence will be published? I wish to submit evidence about my late father’s care at Basildon Hospital
Re:- Further details will be set out shortly as to how patients and members of the public will be able to feed information and concerns into the investigation (by email, letter or phone).
It is to be assumed that there is to be direct access to the review team for patients, their representatives, patient groups and members of the public and that email, letter or phone represent alternative or additional means of making representations rather than the sole means.
Clarification, please.
Rod McCord
(Tameside Hospital Action Group)
Please can you advise how my family can contribute and share our experience at one of the listed hospitals? We are very concerned about our experience and we also have clinical experience of what good practice could and should be. Please advice us.
A united and concerned family.
Hi
Thank you for your comment. If you want to submit any information or raise any concerns you may have about any of the 14 hospital trusts covered by this review you can do so on the NHS Choices website.
Kind regards
Simon
Digital Communications Officer
NHS Commissioning Board
Sir Bruce not only do you need to look at the hospitals themselves, but where they sent patients to die. Basildon & Thurrock discharged my elderly father a couple of days before his death to a nursing home, he was their one day before he had swallowing problems, he should have been tested before he left Basildon & Thurrock it never happened. He was sent to Broomfield Hospital where we were informed he was dying, he was then discharged to a cottage hospital where he died the next day. Basildon & Thurrock were discharging patients so they did not die in their hospital.
This list in made up entirely of Foundation Trustand thus shows that the regulators have failed once again under the watch of Nicholson who now must resign. And the PM must withdraw his support for this man
Really? I make it 4 NHS Trusts and 5 Foundation Trusts. On a list of 9 that’s about as even a distribution as you can get.
EVEN if they had been all FTs, to conclude on the basis of 9 that it is a regulator and a system problem is about as poor science and stats as you could ever get! I remember when they concluded that BSE didn’t affect the young and the old because none of the ~12 original patients out of 60 million population had been young or old.