Royal Surrey County Hospital seeks to reassure patients over mortality rates

ROYAL Surrey County Hospital has responded to a report which listed it as among the highest in the country for death rates.

Figures released by Imperial College London professor Sir Brian Jarman put the Trust tenth in a list of 12 hospitals with the highest mortality rates.

Statistics gathered by Sir Brian showed RSCH had 122 more deaths than expected - a 14 per cent rise.

But RSCH has sought to reassure patients that its mortality rates were low and has pointed to other statistics - including the Hospital Standardised Mortality Ratio 80 - under which it says it falls within the standard range.

Using the standard NHS method for comparing death rates, the SHMI (Summary Hospital-level Mortality indicator), the Royal Surrey currently ranks 21st out of 142 hospitals in England indicating that its mortality rate is 91 per cent of the average. 

This means patients would be 9 per cent less likely to die at the Royal Surrey than at other NHS hospitals. 

Royal Surrey Medical Director Dr Christopher Tibbs said: "We take this issue very seriously and we will be looking further into Professor Sir Brian Jarman's data in detail to fully understand the contributing factors that led to these figures, particularly our palliative care coding. We would like to reassure the public that the Royal Surrey does not have an excessive mortality rate.

 "All unexpected deaths in the hospital are reviewed on a daily basis by myself, at the highest level, and we are extremely proud of the outstanding care which is delivered at our Trust, as evidenced by our excellent SHMI performance and indeed many other indicators of quality."