Royal’s death rate troubles MP

MP Michael Meacher is demanding to know why the Royal Oldham Hospital has a higher mortality rate than others in the area.

The Oldham West and Royton Labour MP said the discrepancies in new Hospital Standardised Mortality Ratio figures at the four hospitals run by the Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust raises serious questions.

The HSMR examines how often patients survive their stay in hospital, taking into account age, illness and other factors, such as whether the patient lives in a deprived area. It can show potential problems with the quality of care

If a Trust has an HSMR of 100, the number of patients who died is as expected, while values above 100 suggest a higher rate than was expected.

The Royal Oldham recorded 93 for the three months from March 2014 - slightly above the North-West average of 82.7 and above the Trust’s target of 79.

Elsewhere in the Trust, North Manchester General and Fairfield both recorded figures slightly under target while Rochdale Infirmary recorded the lowest rate at just over 40.

Mr Meacher added: “We cannot put the varying rates down to treatment at the Royal Oldham as I know that is first class. This casts a very sharp light on the social-economic conditions of certain wards in Oldham, which affect life chances.”

Mr Meacher added: “These are worrying figures for Oldham and the degree of variation is shocking. It needs some explanation.”

Roger Prudham, the NHS trust’s deputy medical director, said: “Compared with other acute providers in the North-West we have the second-best mortality figures in the region.

“The degree of variation both by site and day of admission has reduced significantly when we compare data for the last two years.”