Probe into trust's death rates

An investigation is being launched after a West Midlands NHS trust reported apparently higher death rates than normal.

The health watchdog said it was investigating Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust after data showed the rates were "out of normal range".

It is focusing closely on patients admitted to the trust as emergencies.

And it will investigate the quality of care provided across the trust, in particular to older people, after patients raised concerns.

The trust believes its rates were normal for a trust of its size and the population it serves.

It released figures showing that in 2006/06 its standardised mortality rate (SMR) stood at 127.

Nationally, the SMR is set at 100 so any figure above this reveals a higher than expected death rate.

However, the trust said its SMR was down to 101 between May and October 2007 and to 100.4 for emergency admissions.

Regarding the figure of 127, trust chief executive Martin Yeates said: "We worked with the Strategic Health Authority and investigated this apparently high mortality rate and concluded that it was due to problems in the way we were recording and coding information about patients.

But the Healthcare Commission said it would investigate the issue itself after an alert system suggested a higher than normal death rate among the data.

It visited the trust on two occasions and requested evidence before deciding to launch an official investigation.

Nigel Ellis, the commission's head of investigations, said: "An apparently high rate of mortality does not necessarily mean there are problems with safety.

"It may be there are other factors here such as the way that information about patients is recorded by the trust.

"Either way it does require us to ask questions, which is why we are carrying out this investigation."

The inquiry will also look at how the two hospitals managed by the trust, Cannock Chase and Stafford, protect the safety of patients.

Mr Ellis said: "It is absolutely critical that, on behalf of patients, we get to the bottom of these issues and bring clarity to the data on mortality rates.

"The figures at Mid Staffordshire Foundation Trust are out of normal range which is why we are carrying out this investigation to get a clear picture of what is going on.

"People using the trust's hospital services, should be assured, however, that if we thought the trust was unsafe we would have already taken action.

"There is no cause for immediate alarm. The safety of patients is our number one priority. Nothing will get in the way of this."

Mid Staffordshire became a foundation trust in February. Beforehand, it was the Mid Staffordshire General Hospitals NHS Trust.